D Shanti was seen breaking down in tears just after AGC officer Hasmiza Hussain came out of the building to announce that the office had filed a notice of appeal at 11.43am.

Activist Arun Doraisamy was seen consoling Shanti, with a crowd of around 300 people who had gathered outside the AGC building to extend their support for her.

Earlier, Shanti came to submit a memorandum seeking the AGC file a notice of appeal for her son’s case. The officer returned around five minutes after receiving the memorandum to deliver the news.

On Oct 3, a High Court in George Town, Penang acquitted and discharged five people accused of murdering Nhaveen, 18, in 2017.

Speaking to the media later, Arun said the family had also made a request to the government to consider bringing in prolific lawyer V Sithambaram to prosecute the case in the appeal.

“This is very important because the case has gone through a testing phase for the past six years.

“We need a specialist, a person of the highest calibre to handle this case,” he said of the top criminal lawyer who was appointed ad hoc prosecutor in former prime minister Najib Razak’s SRC International corruption trial.

The family is also requesting the AGC to apply for a warrant to arrest all the five accused, pending the disposal of the appeal.

In his verdict, High Court Justice Radzi Hamid said that “there were major flaws in the prosecution’s case against the accused, and hence a failure in proving a prima facie case”.