The accused, who is the 10th defence witness, said he and his friends did not use violence or beat anyone to solve cases of theft at the hostel.

“I did not see anyone beating up the victim and I also did not beat him,” he said when re-examined by his lawyer, Kamarudin Chinki, at the trial before Justice Duncan Sikodol.

On Feb 28, Duncan ordered 13 teenagers, aged 16 to 19, to enter their defence on a charge of murdering Nazmie at the Lahad Datu Vocational College between 9pm on March 21 last year and 7.38am the following day.

They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides the death penalty or imprisonment of 30 to 40 years and up to 12 strokes of the cane, upon conviction.

Questioned by Kamarudin whether he knew the victim was being harmed between 9pm on March 21 and 7.38am the following day, the eighth accused said the victim was not harmed and looked “normal” when he (10th accused) came out of the dormitory room Belian 5.

Kamarudin: What do you mean by normal?

Eighth accused: He was able to stand on his own and was his usual self.

Meanwhile, when re-examined by deputy public prosecutor Ng Juhn Tao, the eighth accused did not agree with the prosecution that the 17th, 16th and 12th prosecution witnesses saw him and his friends beating the victim.

Earlier, in his witness statement, the eighth accused said he only pushed the victim away when they gathered in a group in dormitory room Belian 5.

The prosecution team also includes deputy public prosecutors Nur Nisla Abdul Latif and Batrisyia Mohd Khusri.

Eight of the 13 teenagers were represented by lawyers Ram Singh, Kamarudin and Chen Wen Jye while the other five were represented by lawyers Zairi Zainal Abidim, Abdul Ghani Zelika, Vivian Thien, Jhesseny P Kang and Kusni Ambotuwo.