SEREMBAN: Three Bangladeshis claimed trial in the Sessions Court here to a joint charge of kidnapping a fellow countryman for a RM20,000 ransom.
Kazi Miostofa, 38, Maruf Hossain, 28, and Alim Abdul, 30, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to them before judge N. Kanageswari. They were accused with two others, who are still at large, of kidnapping Roni Hawlader for ransom in front of an outlet along Jalan Dato Sheikh Ahmad at around 1pm on March 22.
The charge comes under Section 3 (1) of the Kidnapping Act, read together with Section 34 of the same legislation.
Offenders can be jailed between 30 and 40 years and whipped upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Balkis Zunaidi told the court the prosecution was not offering bail as it was a non-bailable offence.
However, if the court were to use its discretion, she proposed a bail of RM50,000 with two local sureties for each accused and asked the court to order them to surrender their passports.
She also asked the court to order the accused to stay away from the victim and other prosecution witnesses.
Counsel for the trio Mohd Hanif Hassan pleaded for bail, saying the accused were married and with families in Bangladesh who relied on them.
He also asked for a reasonable bail amount as the three earned monthly salaries of about RM2,000 each.
Judge Kanageswari refused bail and fixed May 7 for next mention.
In another case, a 41-year-old Myanmar national was charged at the Magistrate’s Court with the murder of a female compatriot.
No plea was recorded from Win Htike after the charge was read to him before Magistrate Nurul Saqinah Rosli as the case came under the purview of the High Court.
The accused was charged with murdering the 35-year-old woman at around 10pm on March 2 along a flight of stairs on the fourth floor of a building in Nilai.
Win was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder which carries the death penalty or a jail term of between 30 and 40 years and whipping upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Hanis Anisha Jamilludin asked the court for a next mention date as the post mortem, DNA and toxicology reports were not ready.
Magistrate Nurul Saqinah fixed May 13 for next mention.
The accused was denied bail.
It was earlier reported that a Myanmar national had slashed a woman in the neck at a worker’s quarters in Nilai.
Nilai district police chief Supt Johari Yahya was quoted as saying that the attack was believed to have been over a RM10,000 debt.
