Murder suspect’s Incest Trial Adjourned to March

GEORGE TOWN: The Trial of an odd-job worker charged with committing incest with his teenage daughter was Thursday adjourned to March 4 and 5 by the Sessions Court here. The court fixed the new dates after being informed that defence counsel Jagdeep Singh Deo was engaged in a Drug Trafficking Case in the High Court here and had to rush off for another drug trafficking case at the Taiping High Court later.

In the dock was the 41-year-old accused who is alleged to have committed the offence in a men’s toilet at Kompleks Farlim in Air Itam at 12.30pm on Feb 7 last year. Incest is punishable under Section 376B of the Penal Code with a jail term of between six and 20 years and with whipping. The accused is also to stand trial in the High Court for allegedly murdering his seven-year-old daughter. The trial dates have yet to be fixed.

The man, who is married to two women who are sisters, is alleged to have murdered the girl, whose birth was never registered, at their apartment in Medan Angsana 1, Bandar Baru Air Itam here, between 7am and 7pm on Nov 11, 2004. The skeletal remains of the girl, who was believed to have been beaten to death, were exhumed from a shallow grave in a field near a hypermarket in Jalan Kampung Pisang, Air Itam, on April 29 last year.

Police found bone fragments and a cracked skull buried in a metre-deep grave. The victim’s hands and legs were tied. After being sent for psychiatric evaluation at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, it was declared that the accused was fit to stand trial for the murder.