KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — An unemployed man was charged in a magistrate’s court here today for murdering his four-year-old niece, believed to have been stabbed 59 times.

Goh Jie Kiat, 22, nodded that he understood when the charge was read out in Mandarin in front of Magistrate Siti Radziah Kamarudin.

No confession was recorded as murder cases are under the jurisdiction of the High Court.

He was accused of murdering Serena Yip Pei Yee, four, at a house in Jalan Kuang Gunung 4, Taman Kepong, here between 7pm and 8pm on June 18 under Section 302 of the Penal Code which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction

The case was set for mention on Sept 3.

Deputy public prosecutor K. Vasugi appeared for the prosecution while the accused was not represented.

Earlier the Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim said that the forensic findings reported that the girl was stabbed 59 times with a pair of scissors, where three of those stabs pierced her heart and lungs. — Bernama