KANGAR: Five friends pleaded not guilty at the Magistrate's Court here today to two charges of attempting to murder police officers and vandalising Telekom Malaysia's telecommunications cables in Jejawi, Arau, at the end of September.
The accused - Mohd Firdaus Abdul Hadi, 34; Muhammad Alif Saiful Ahmad Zaini, 31; Muhammad Badrul Amin Ahmad, 26; Muhammad Yasin Zairi, 20; and Abdul Tawwab Abd Ghalib, 36 - nodded in understanding and requested to be tried after the charges were read before Magistrate Nurshahida Abdul Rahim.
According to the first charge, four of them, except for Abdul Tawwab, along with another person who remains at large, are accused of attempting to murder a police officer by colliding with the officer's Proton Waja using a Proton X70 sports utility vehicle (SUV) at Taman Jejawi, Arau, on Sept 27 between 4am and 4.20am.
Abdul Tawwab is separately charged with the same offence for driving a Perodua Myvi recklessly and dangerously and attempting to ram a police officer at the same location and time.
The accused are charged under Section 307 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Act.
For the second charge, all five, along with another individual still at large, are accused of vandalism for cutting Telekom Malaysia's cables, causing damage at the same time and location.
They face charges under Section 431A of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Act.
The prosecution was led by State Deputy Public Prosecutor Tengku Ruqayyah Tengku Shahrom, while four of the accused - Mohd Firdaus, Muhammad Alif Saiful, Muhammad Badrul Amin, and Muhammad Yasin - were represented by lawyer Datuk S Ganesan.
Abdul Tawwab was represented by lawyer Muhamad Amirul Mansor from the National Legal Aid Foundation (YBGK).
Nurshahida set bail at RM3,500 for each accused; however, it was retracted as all the accused are involved in the attempted murder case, which does not allow for bail.
The court has set Oct 24 as the next mention date, pending DNA and fingerprint reports from the Chemistry Department.