Kota Kinabalu: Six army personnel were freed by the High Court here Tuesday of a charge of murdering their colleague five years ago.
High Court Judge Datuk Ismail Brahim acquitted and discharged Mohamad Zaki Gusam, 31, Mohd Farhan Mohd Fudzi, 33, Mohamad Faeszudin Mohamad Jaes, 34, Mohammad Hasrul Faiz Mustaffa, 35, Mohd Borhan Zakaria, 36, and Muhammad Nazri Mohd Kahar, 29, without their defence being called.
In his ruling, Ismail said the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case on the charge against all accused persons at the end of the prosecution stage.
“Therefore, all accused persons were acquitted and discharged,” held Ismail.
The six soldiers from the peninsula were jointly accused of murdering one Muhammad Faiz Harun, 26, also from the peninsula, on March 22, 2020, between 1am and 2.30am, at the Mapan-Mapan Post, Kg Mapan-Mapan, in Pitas.
The offence under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries a death sentence, or a jail of between 30 and 40 years, and whipping at least 12 strokes of the cane, on conviction.
The six have since been held under remand as the charge against them has no provision for bail.
Twenty prosecution witnesses were called to testify during the trial which commenced on March 16, 2023 before the prosecution closed its case on Jan 17, this year.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Dana Arabi Wazani and Lovely Natasha Charles appeared for the prosecution.
Counsel Hamid Imsial represented Mohamad Zaki, Mohd Farhan and Mohammad Hasrul, while counsel Datuk Ram Singh and Prem Elmer Ganasan acted for the other three.
Meanwhile, in the Magistrate’s Court, the case of a driver, who was charged with assaulting a driver last year, will be mentioned on June 11.
Magistrate Wan Farrah Farriza Wan Ghazali set the date for Mahady Sham for further pre-trial case management.
Mahady, 32, was accused of voluntarily causing hurt to one Sanjay Ganth on May 15, 2024, at 11.46am at the loading bay section of the serving unit of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2, here.
Mahady had, on Feb 11, this year, pleaded not guilty to the charge under Section 323 of the Penal Code and was released on a bail of RM1,500 in two sureties.
