A 27-year-old Chinese national was charged with murder at the Petaling Jaya Magistrates’ Court today for allegedly killing a 20-year-old Chinese student at a condominium unit.
The accused, Zhu Xuanqi (transliteration), was escorted to court by police while wearing a white T-shirt and face mask and kept his head down as his lawyer spoke to him.
According to the charge sheet, Zhu allegedly caused the death of the victim at a condominium unit at 11.03am on June 23 and was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
If convicted, he may face the death penalty, or imprisonment of not less than 30 years and not more than 40 years, along with at least 12 strokes of the cane, reported Sin Chew Daily.
Zhu’s lawyer appealed for the case to be postponed, pending the submission of the post-mortem and DNA reports by the prosecution.
His request was granted by the judge and Aug 6 was fixed for next case mention.
Police recovered several pieces of evidence
According to reports, police recovered several pieces of evidence linked to the case from the scene, including a weapon believed to have been used in the murder.
Preliminary investigations also found that the victim sustained several injuries. However, the exact cause of death and details of the injuries can only be confirmed after the post-mortem report is complete.
Police investigations also suggested that the victim and Zhu knew each other. However, this was vehemently denied by the victim’s family.
