Four Myanmar men freed of countryman's murder charge

KUALA LUMPUR - The High Court here today acquitted and discharged four Myanmar nationals over the murder of their fellow countryman four years ago.

Judge K. Muniandy made the decision after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against Pau Deih Lian, Kai Lian Mong, Kai Za Muang and Tuang Siang Muang at the end of their case.

In his ruling, Muniandy said that based on the CCTV footage presented in court, a security guard known as Rajan was the individual who brandished a baton at a group of Myanmar nationals during the incident.

"The question of whether Rajan was the individual who beat the victim to death was not answered until the end of the prosecution case because he was not called as a prosecution witness.

"Based on the testimony of other prosecution witnesses, Rajan is the only individual who can explain what happened because he was the last person to speak to the victim and the only person who carries a weapon that can cause blunt force injuries to the deceased.

"The pathologist’s testimony also confirmed that the victim’s death was caused by blunt force trauma, but there was no evidence from the prosecution to establish that all the accused were armed. Therefore, the four accused are acquitted and discharged from the case without being called to enter their defence,” said the judge.

The four men, aged between 30 and 40, are accused of intentionally causing the death of a male coffee shop employee known as "kawan” at Jalan Pudu Lama, Dang Wangi, here at 10 am on Nov 18, 2019.

The charge, framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 34 of the same Code, carries the death sentence upon conviction.

Deputy public prosecutor Zaileen Nadia Zubir prosecuted, while the four accused were represented by Datuk C. Vignesh Kumar, P.G. Cyril, Datuk Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu and M. Visvanathan. Eleven prosecution witnesses were called to testify in the trial, which began on Feb 28. - BERNAMA