12 former UPNM students attacked Zulfarhan to get confession of missing laptop, says prosecution

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal was told on Tuesday (May 14) that there was ample testimony showing the 12 former Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) hit and injured UPNM Naval Cadet Officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain.

Deputy public prosecutor Solehah Noratikah Ismail said that the High Court Judge had convicted the 12 appellants and sentenced them based on comprehensive testimony from two of the prosecution’s witnesses, Ahmad Senabil Mohamad and Mohd Syafiq Abdullah.

“There is overwhelming testimony that all the appellants hit and injured the deceased (Zulfarhan) and intimidated him to extract a confession regarding the missing laptop.

“The trial judge also found no conflicting material in both witness testimonies,” he said during the prosecution’s cross-appeal against the three-year jail sentence by the High Court on Nov 2, 2021, and urged that the sentence be raised to seven years so that it would serve as a warning not only to the convicted but to their friends.

“Such cases usually occur not only in universities but also dormitories. The appellants are smart people with IQ but lacking in EQ,” she said.

On the matter of why the two prosecution witnesses did not prevent the incident as brought up by the appellant’s lawyer, Solehah Noratikah said both witnesses said in their testimony that they feared that they would suffer the same fate as Zulfarhan if they tried to stop the appellants.

Lawyer A G Kalidas, who represented the appellants, said that the prosecution had failed to prove a shared intent that led to prove that the appellants were co-conspirators and involved in attacking the victim.

He claimed that it was hard to prove that all the appellants had taken part in attacking Zulfarhan as there were almost 50 students staying in the dormitory when the incident occurred, adding that the court should consider and determine whether they were all acting together as 32 people were arrested and remanded, with part of them becoming prosecution witnesses.

“It is difficult to ascertain which individual took part and who did not. It needs to be considered that the incident happened on the university campus.

“I don’t mean that intimidation and bullying should be permitted, but there exists a tendency towards strong friendships, some will be shunned if they don’t follow the crowd.

“Friends will do all sorts of things and if you don’t take notice, you will lose the friendship,” he said, adding that the prosecution also failed to produce the sports shoe that allegedly was used to injure Zulfarhan.

Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who led the panel of three judges, along with Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Judge Datuk Azmi Ariffin, refuted Kalidas’ claim that the existence of the laptop that Zulfarhan allegedly stole was not proven as the laptop and the purchase receipt were not admitted during trial.

He pointed out that there was testimony stating that the victim was attacked after being accused of stealing the laptop.

“A reasonable question that will be asked is why the boy was attacked. So the story will be linked to the matter of the missing laptop.

“It is impossible that you (the appellants) hope that the court believes there was no motive as to why he was attacked,” Judge Hadhariah said.

At the start of the proceedings, five former students, Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali, all currently 28, withdrew their appeal against their conviction and three-year sentence.

The five former students, along with fellow former student, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri, are currently serving their 18-year sentence after being found guilty of manslaughter by the High Court on Nov 2, 2021.

The remaining 12 former students – Mohd Hafiz Fauzan Ismail, Mohamad Lukhmanul Hakim Mohd Zain, Ahmad Shafwan Berdal, Muhammad Amirul Asraff Mala, Luqman Hakim Shamsuri Agus, Muhammad Sufi Mohd Mustapha, Noriznan Izzairi Noor Azhar, Muhamad Ashraf Abdullah, Muhammad Danial Firdaus Azmir, Muhammad Hasif Ismail, Muhammad Adib Iman Fuad Ady Sani and Mohamad Syazwan Musa – had continued with their appeal, which would resume on Wednesday (May 15). – BK