The accused (left) being escorted by a policeman into court on Monday morning (June 12).
KOTA KINABALU: A man has been charged at the Magistrate's Court here with the murder of his ex-girlfriend at a shopping mall.
No plea was recorded from Chung King Fung@Haider Daniel Chung, after the charge was read to him in front of Magistrate Lovely Natasha Charles on Monday (June 12).
According to the charge sheet, Chung, 32, was alleged to have murdered Nurul Ain Silien, 22, at the Polar Ice Cream at Lot B-48, Basement 1, Jesselton Mall, Jalan Haji Saman here between noon and 12.20pm on May 29.
The charge was framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder which carries the mandatory death sentence on conviction.
During proceedings, prosecuting officer Insp Kelvan Elson Maik applied for a new date from the court for the next mention of the case while awaiting the postmortem report from the hospital as well as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test and forensics report from the Chemistry Department.
The court then fixed July 11 for the next mention of the case and ruled that the accused will remain under arrest as no bail was granted as the offence under Section 302 of the Penal Code is a non-bailable offence.
Counsels Chin Teck Ming and Jul Hamri Jumhani represented Chung - who works as a personal assistant of an international construction company - while lawyer Nabila Norsahar held a watching brief for the victim’s family.
It was reported earlier that the accused had allegedly stabbed his former flame eight times after the latter was determined to go on with their break-up.
He then called the police himself and waited until they arrived at the scene.
The police found that there was also an element of jealousy in the crime.
Kota Kinabalu Deputy OCPD Supt Kalsom Idris said the man had earlier met up with the woman, who worked as a shop assistant at a shopping mall, so that he could persuade her to not end their relationship.
Supt Kalsom said that the woman rejected his repeated pleas as she had made up her mind due to personal reasons.
“Because of that, the suspect, who was enraged, stabbed her eight times which led to her death,” she said.
Outside the courtroom later, Datuk Siti Aminah Jabarkhan, the victim's mother, told reporters that her daughter Nurul Ain had never been officially engaged with the accused.
Siti Aminah, who is also a Parti Warisan supreme council member, also claimed Nurul Ain had been acquainted with the deceased for less than a year.
The police had issued a statement on May 29 about the incident, saying they had arrested the suspect who is believed to be the victim's ex-fiance following the death of the woman.
