SIBU, May 19: More than 20 police officers were tasked with guarding three probationary police constables at the Magistrate’s Court this morning for the hearing of a case involving the death of one of their colleagues.
One of the accused, Mohamad Nur Alif Mazlan, 28, was later charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code with the murder of Norhalim Tumiran, 25, between 5.45pm to 6.30pm on May 6 at a house in Lane 9, Jalan Permai.
If convicted, the accused would receive the mandatory death sentence by hanging.
The other two men, aged 21 and 23 respectively, who are also holding the same rank, were however released by the court. They will be prosecution witnesses for the case.
No plea was taken from the accused before Magistrate Siti Hazwani Hanim.
In the incident on May 6, the deceased was found dead with gunshot wounds near his right ear. He had been shot while playing computer games in the sitting room of the house.
A police team rushed to the house at 7pm after being alerted about the shooting.
Sibu district police chief, ACP Stanley Jonathan Ringgit told reporters at the scene that the deceased, who was from Pahang, died from an accidental shooting by a colleague.
“Together with the others, the deceased had just been posted here one-and-a-half months ago as a member of the Motorcycle Patrol Unit (URB) of the Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department (JPJKK) of Sibu,” he said.
The house, he revealed, was rented by five friends of the deceased. Two of them were on duty at the time of the incident.
The deceased was staying at personnel quarters at the Sibu Police Headquarters.
Norhalim left behind his wife and a one-year-old child. — DayakDaily
