Teenage couple charged with murder of Malaysian university student in campus housing
Maniishapriet Kaur Akhara, a physiotherapy student from the University of Cyberjaya, was found dead in her condominium unit in the Sepang district of Selangor on the morning of Jun 24, with injuries on her body, reported local media.
At the Sepang Magistrate Court on Thursday, M Sri Darvien was charged with murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty or jail of between 30 and 40 years and at least 12 strokes of the cane, if convicted.
According to the charge sheet, Darvien was accused of murdering Maniishapriet between 9.11pm and 11.31pm on Jun 23 at Block A of Mutiara Ville, Free Malaysia Today reported.
Mutiara Ville is a shared unit provided by the university located about 1.5km away from the main building.
Darvien's girlfriend, D Thineswary, who is also a student at the university, was charged with abetting him in committing the offence, under Section 109 of the Penal Code which was read together with Section 302 carrying the same penalties, reported local media.
The couple nodded after the charges were read before Magistrate Khairatul Animah Jelani. The two had arrived at the court under tight police supervision.
No plea was recorded as murder cases fall under the jurisdiction of the High Court.
No bail was granted and the court has set Sep 11 for the next mention of the case for the submission of the post-mortem and chemical analysis reports, according to local media.
Darvien's lawyer M Manoharan appealed for the case to be transferred to the High Court for trial as soon as possible since his client was not eligible for bail.
Lawyers Mohamed Baharudeen Mohamed Ariff, Abu Bakar Isa Ramat and Joel Ruben John - all of whom were representing Thineswary - also urged the Attorney-General's Chambers to expedite the process.
In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharudin said the prosecution required time to obtain and serve the relevant documents to the defence before the case could be transferred.
'Only once these documents are in order can consent be granted to move the case to the High Court,' said Zaizul when requesting the date for the next case mention, as quoted by the New Straits Times.
Earlier, Sepang police chief Norhizam Bahaman said that Maniishapriet's death was due to blunt force of trauma to the head.
Maniishapriet lived with five other students but they had returned home for the holidays on Jun 21, leaving her alone at the condominium at Mutiara Ville used as a hostel as she was scheduled to sit for an upcoming examination, local media reported earlier.
A total of four people aged between 19 and 20, including Thineswary and Darvien, were arrested during the course of the investigations, according to local media.
It was also reported that the main suspect had allegedly spent the night at the condominium unit several times prior to the incident.
Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan previously said that investigations revealed that the victim's housemate, who is also the suspect's girlfriend, had handed him the access card and keys to the condominium unit before the incident. At the time, Hussein did not name the suspects.
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