BUTTERWORTH, Nov 13 — A 41-year-old man was charged in the Magistrate’s Court here today with murdering a senior citizen whose body was found floating in a waterway near Kampung Permatang Pak Elong, Kepala Batas, last month.

S. Ganesan nodded after the charge was read out before Magistrate Aini Adilah Muhammad Faizal. However, no plea was recorded as murder cases fall under the jurisdiction of the High Court.

According to the charge, Ganesan allegedly murdered Haron Chua Abdullah, 73, between 2am and 4am on October 8 along the road from Jalan Tun Hamdan Sheikh Tahir to Jalan Permatang Pak Elong in Kepala Batas.

The charge was framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty or imprisonment of between 30 and 40 years and a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane, upon conviction.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Zhan Yi did not offer bail, while the accused was unrepresented.

The court denied bail and fixed December 18 for mention to allow the prosecution to obtain the post-mortem and chemical analysis reports. — Bernama