KLANG: The High Court here today fixed Sept 29 to confirm the status of a representation filed by a man charged with murdering his pregnant girlfriend in Sungai Besar two years ago.
Judge Norliza Othman set the date after counsel Muhammad Nor Tamrin, representing the accused Muhammad Fakrul Aiman Sajali, 22, raised the issue of the representation's status during Monday’s proceedings, which had initially been scheduled as the final case management.
Muhammad Nor informed the court that his client had sought to change his plea from not guilty to guilty through the representation. However, he confirmed that no response had yet been received from the Attorney General's Chambers regarding the matter.
Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Ashiqin Zulkifli requested a new date to review the status of the representation.
Judge Norliza advised the accused to carefully consider his decision, noting that the charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries a mandatory death penalty and that the court could not guarantee any reduction in sentence based on such a representation.
"Should this court examine the facts of the case and hear witness testimony, and should it form the opinion that the deserved sentence is death by hanging, would you still maintain your guilty plea?", she addressed the accused directly.
She elaborated on the legal precedent, noting that even before the abolition of the mandatory death penalty, the court lacked the authority to accept a guilty plea to a capital charge unless the prosecution first agreed to reduce it.
The court had previously scheduled the trial to commence on Feb 23, 2026, with subsequent hearing dates set for Feb 27, March 9 to 13, and March 30 to April 3, 2026.
In a prior ruling on May 15, the court had granted an application for Muhammad Fakrul Aiman, accused of murdering 21-year-old Nur Anisah Abdul Wahab, who was pregnant at the time, to be referred to a psychiatrist for a mental health assessment.
On June 1, 2024, he was charged with the murder of Nur Anisah under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty.
The offence is alleged to have occurred on Jalan Sungai Limau between 8.30 pm on May 22 and 8.00 am on May 23, 2023.
Previously, it was reported that a misunderstanding led to the brutal murder, where the victim, a restaurant waitress, was stabbed, slashed and set on fire by her boyfriend in a palm oil plantation at Jalan Sungai Limau on May 22, 2023. - Bernama
