An IT employee was charged in the Kajang Magistrate’s Court today with the murder of Syed Muhammad Danial Syed Shakir over a road accident.
Yew Wei Liang, 41, clad in a T-shirt and black pants, arrived at the court at around 9am from the Sungai Buloh prison.
The accused nodded to indicate he understood the charge which was read out to him before Magistrate Nor Afidah Idris.
No plea was recorded as murder cases are heard in the High Court.
The case is handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Siti Noor Hafizan Zakaria, while the accused is represented by counsels S Selvam and Varghese Onny.
During the proceeding today, Selvam lodged a complaint to the court that his client had been beaten and abused by police during interrogation.
“Our client was forced to admit to the murder offence by police when he was admitted at the Kajang Hospital.
“Thus, we are seeking the court to hear our complaint under Section 131 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.
Meanwhile, Varghese said tampering of evidence might have occurred as Yew’s father-in-law claimed that he received a phone call from the accused’s wife.
“The phone should be under police’s possession during the probe,” he said.
When met after the proceeding, Varghese declined to elaborate on the complaint filed by him and his colleague.
“We cannot explain further, but we will lodge a police report regarding this issue,” he said.
No bail was offered to the accused as the offence is non-bailable.
The court then fixed Sept 27 for mention and to hear the complaint by the defence.
Yew is accused of having caused the death of Danial, 29, at Km 293.6 of the North-South (Kuala Lumpur-Seremban) Expressway between 1 pm and 2 pm on Aug 10.
Yew and his wife were remanded for seven days until Aug 17, when Yew’s wife was released and Yew’s remand was extended until today.
Selangor deputy police chief Datuk Ab Rashid Ab Wahab recently said police recorded statements from 12 eyewitnesses during the course of their investigations.
Yew was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Police said last week there were no racial elements in the road-rage incident.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Mazlan Mansor also warned the public against spreading news that the road-rage case was racial in nature.
He said they are aware the case has gone viral with many wild accusations being spread on social media.
Mazlan said such baseless accusations will only hamper their investigations.
“Let us do our work. Those who witnessed the incident should talk to the police instead of making claims online.”
Earlier report: Aug 13, Deputy IGP: Don’t Manipulate Road Rage Incident into Racial Issue