TAWAU: The former wife of an e-hailing driver, Nurima Juli, 35, along with her stepbrother, Sadam Kiram, 30, were charged with his murder at the High Court here today.
However, both accused pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to them by the court interpreter in front of judge Datuk Duncan Sikodol.
According to the charge, they were accused of having a common intent to murder Nurman Bakaratu, 61, at an oil palm plantation near Jalan Anjur Juara, Batu 5 Jalan Apas, between 7.30 pm and 11.30 pm on Jan 13 last year.
For this offence, they were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which carries the death penalty or imprisonment of between 30 to 40 years, along with not less than 12 strokes of the cane if not sentenced to death, upon conviction.
Following their plea, deputy public prosecutor Nur Nisla Abdul Latif, representing DPP Mohammad Fakrurrazi Ahmad Salim, proposed that the case be mentioned again on Oct 7 and 8.
However, the judge set Oct 18 as the date for case management, while he submitted a recusal application to the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak to excuse himself from hearing the case.
During the proceedings, Duncan explained that he could not preside over the case to avoid injustice and bias as he had previously heard the case when the first accused (Nurima) appeared as the prosecution's main witness.
The high-profile murder case involved a senior police officer, including the former chief of Esscom Intelligence Staff, Senior Assistant Commissioner Datuk Mat Zaki Md Zain (Rtd), and seven others, who were accused of conspiring to murder Nurman.
However, on Jan 25, the Tawau High Court acquitted and discharged all eight accused after the prosecution applied to withdraw the charges following Nurima's surprise confession to killing Nurman, her ex-husband.