Nurul Syuhada Md Jamean, 22, a final year UPNM student majoring in Human Resources, said Zulfarhan also told her, via a phone call, that he was accused of stealing the laptop of the first accused, Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal.
“He (Zulfarhan) said he was ill. He wanted to tell me something, he told me not to tell anyone else… he told me he was assaulted. He was accused of stealing a laptop. I asked him if he had taken the laptop, he said he did not steal it, but his friends insisted he was the one who stole it,” she said, adding that Zulfarhan did not tell where and when the incident took place.
The 18th prosecution witness said this during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Othman Abdullah on the ninth day of the trial here, today.
Nurul Shuhada said she asked Zulfarhan who assaulted him and the victim said “many” but did not name the individuals.
The witness said Zulfarhan was also looking for someone who could help him locate the laptop and asked for her help to inform her (Nurul Syuhada’s) mother of the matter, in case she knew anyone who could help.
“At first I did not tell my mother because I did not think she could help, but when I thought that maybe this way (telling her mother), I can help him (Zulfarhan), I contacted my mother,” she said.
Nurul Syuhada said her mother asked why the loss of the laptop had not been reported to the higher authorities. She then told her mother that Zulfarhan had asked her not to tell anyone, including his parents.
Nurul Syuhada said a few days after the call, she met Zulfarhan in a car in front of Block Tuah, UPNM, after the Maghrib prayers, on May 26 last year, and that the second accused, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, and the fourth accused, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, were also there.
She said that at the last meeting before Zulfarhan died on June 1, her boyfriend was wearing a white T-shirt and a sarong and both his hands looked swollen.
She said she had asked Zulfarhan whether he was “okay” and Zulfarhan had said he was just bruised and would rest.
He also told her he would not be returning to his hometown in Johor Bahru during the three-day UPNM break from May 27, 2017, as he would be following his friends somewhere.
Six UPNM students, Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi, Muhammad Azamuddin, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali have pleaded not guilty to the murder and abetment in the murder of Zulfarhan at room 04-10, Jebat hostel block of UPNM between 4.45am and 5.45am, on May 22, 2017.
The charges against them were made under Section 302 and 109 of the Penal Code which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
All the accused are 22 years old.
They, together with 13 other students, were also charged with voluntarily causing hurt to the victim to make him confess to the laptop theft, under Section 330 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code which provides for a maximum jail term of seven years and fine, if convicted.
The trial before Judge Azman Abdullah will continue on June 26.