KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — A former student of the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) told the High Court here today that he was the person who made the suggestion to seek help from an Islamic medicine practitioner to search for a missing laptop.

Mohd Syafiq Abdullah, 22, who is currently undergoing military training in Kedah, said this in the trial of the murder of Cadet Marine Officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain.

He said he suggested the idea to Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, the first accused, who suspected Zulfarhan Osman’s involvement.

Mohd Syafiq, the 25th prosecution witness, also told the court that he suggested the idea because he knew that Muhamad Ashraf Abdullah’s father had the ability to locate missing items.

"There are people who said that Ashraf’s father is good at locating missing items. I said to give it a try if Ashraf’s father could help but don’t accuse people blindly,” he said, adding that he had mentioned the matter while walking back to the hostel.

Mohd Syafiq said this during the examination-in-chief by Kuala Lumpur prosecution director Othman Abdullah at the 17th day trial of six UPNM students charged in Zulfarhan Osman’s death.

Earlier, Mohd Syafiq said at 9.30pm on May 20, 2017, he received a message from Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi through Telegram application to inform him about his missing laptop and suspected the victim and asked Mohd Syafiq, who was Zulfarhan Osman roommate, to help searching for it.

"I searched but found nothing. I did tell Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi, but he still suspected that the victim had stolen his laptop,” he said.

Mohd Syafiq said he also saw some of his colleagues including Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi were assaulting the victim at 1am on May 21, 2017 even though Zulfarhan Osman insisted that he did not steal the laptop.

To Othman’s question if Mohd Syafiq knew why Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi and his friends continued assaulting the victim even though he said he did not steal the laptop, Mohd Syafiq said this was a normal practice at UPNM.

"At the UPNM, whenever there were stealing incidents, the students would beat the accused until he confessed (to the crime),” he said, adding that many new students were forced to face the situation.

Replying to Othman’s question whether he had witnessed other assault incidents, Mohd Syafiq said no as he had only heard about it.

Six UPNM students, Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi, Muhammad Azamuddin, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali have pleaded not guilty to the murder and abetment in the murder of Zulfarhan Osman at room 04-10, Jebat hostel block of UPNM between 4.45am and 5.45am, on May 22, 2017.

The charges against them, all aged 22, were made under Section 302 and 109 of the Penal Code which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

The six, together with 13 other students, were also charged with voluntarily causing hurt to the victim to make him confess to the laptop theft, under Section 330 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code which provides for a maximum jail term of seven years and fine, if convicted.

The hearing before Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah continues on November 12. — Bernama