GEORGE TOWN, June 15 — Penang police are investigating five teenagers under remand for the savage assault of T. Nhaveen, 18, for a separate attack on another boy last month.
Northeast district police chief Assistant Commissioner Anuar Omar said the new case involves a 19-year-old who had previously reported the five for assault and extortion on May 5, but withdrew his complaint just three hours later.
He added that the 19-year-old filed a report yesterday asking police to reopen investigations into his case.
“We reopened investigations into the case and all five suspects will be investigated under Section 147 and 385 of the Penal Code,” the senior policeman said.
Section 147 is for rioting, punishable with jail up to two years, or a fine, or both.
Section 385 criminalises anyone who threatens another with injury under extortion and carries a heavier penalty. Those found guilty can be jailed up to seven years, fined, or whipped, or a combination of any two of these punishments.
The five boys aged between 16 and 18 are currently under police custody. They have admitted to the June 10 attack on Nhaveen who was declared dead at 6pm today.
Three of them have completed Form Five and are waiting for SPM results while two are currently in Form Five.
Police received a court order to extend the remand for two of the five boys to tomorrow. Their initial remand expired today.
Anuar said police will rearrest the other three boys when their remand expires tomorrow.
The policeman had earlier told reporters that they were referring Nhaveen’s case to the deputy public prosecutor for further instructions when asked if his case would be reclassified as murder, which carries a mandatory death sentence under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
Nhaveen’s case is currently being investigated under Section 377CA of the Penal Code which criminalises the sexual connection by object, whereby an object is inserted into the vagina or anus of another person without consent.
Those found guilty can be punished with a jail term between five and 30 years and whipping.
But Anuar said police have yet to find the object used by the attackers to violate Nhaveen anally with.
“We are still investigating the case so we hope the media don’t spread any speculations about the case, we can’t reveal full investigation details as the case is yet to be brought to court,” he said.
Nhaveen and his friend, T. Previin, 19, were at a burger stall in Taman Tun Sardon, Gelugor in the early hours of June 10 when they bumped into two other teenagers. A fight broke out after insults were thrown.
Previin escaped with injuries but Nhaveen was hauled off to a field in Jalan Kaki Bukit where three other teenagers, believed to be friends of the initial two, and brutalised with crash helmets and burnt with cigarette butts. He was also sodomised with an object.
A brother of one of the five suspected attackers later sent Nhaveen to hospital.
