KUALA LUMPUR: 18 University Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) students standing trial for the death of cadet officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, four years ago, will learn of their fate tomorrow.
High Court judge Datuk Azman Abdullah is scheduled to deliver his verdict at 10am.
Five of them; Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat dan Mohamad Shobirin Sabri were charged with killing Zulfarhan, while Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali faces a charge of abetting the murder.
All six of them were also charged with 12 others with voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Zulfarhan to extract a confession from the deceased they claimed had stolen a laptop.
Throughout the trial which began on Jan 29, 2018, a total of 31 prosecution witnesses and 20 defence witnesses had testified.
All the accused were ordered to enter their defence on July 31, 2019, after the court found that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against them.
During the trial, one of the accused had testified that a steam iron which was hot was pressed on Zulfarhan during an 'interrogation' to get the deceased to confess to stealing a laptop.
The court heard that during the incident, Zulfarhan had screamed and cried out loudly begging the accused to not do it again.
The testimony had become the spotlight of the trial.
The 18 students aged 25 had allegedly committed the offence inside a room at the Jebat Hostel Block, UPNM, between 2.30am and 5.30am on May 21, 2017, and in the same room between 1.30am and 4.30am on May 22, the same year.
Zulfarhan was found with burn marks and bruises in an apartment in Serdang at about 8pm on June 1, 2017, and was pronounced dead at about 10pm at the Serdang Hospital.