Friday 29 Mar 2024
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PUTRAJAYA: A car salesman must enter his defence for the murder of a marketing executive eight years ago, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.

A three-man bench led by Datuk Linton Albert said the prosecution had established a prima facie against Shahril Jaafar.

“We allow the public prosecutor’s appeal and hereby order the accused to enter his defence,” he said.

The court ordered the case to be fixed for mention in the Alor Star High Court on Oct 19.

Shahril, 33, is charged with the murder of Chee Gaik Yap between 5.30pm on Jan 14, 2006 and 3.05am the following day, near the Cinta Sayang Club in Taman Ria Jaya, Sungai Petani.

Gaik Yap, a Universiti Utara Malaysia graduate, was believed to have been tailed by her assailant while jogging in the neighbourhood of Taman Ria Jaya.

She was kidnapped, raped and killed before her body was dumped at the housing estate.

Gaik Yap’s father, Chee Ah Sau, who attended the proceedings, told reporters he was relieved that the case would finally be heard in full.

On June 25 last year, the High Court acquitted Shahril without his defence called.

The prosecution quickly filed a notice of appeal following pressure from the victim’s family and the public.

Shahril, the son of a “Datuk”, was acquitted because the trial judge concluded that his DNA did not match the semen sample taken from the victim’s private part.

The accused subsequently left the country on police bail pending the DNA test, but was arrested by police at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on arrival from Perth on Jan 17 last year, and his trial then started. — The Malaysian Insider


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 14, 2014.

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