KOTA KINABALU (May 10): A witness claiming to be the girlfriend of a murdered e-hailing driver, told the High Court on Wednesday that she was shocked, anxious and cried upon seeing blood marks in the car driven by Muhammad Hanafiee Jaffar.
Asnida Saip, an audit clerk, testified before Justice Leonard David Shim that she had known the 27-year-old deceased for six years and the last time they communicated was on 24 May 2019 to wish each other goodnight at around 11pm.
She added that she contacted the deceased the next day (25 May 2019) at around 1pm and told the court that there was only one tick on Muhammad Hanafiee’s WhatsApp account, and she also tried calling him but only reached his voicemail.
When asked by the prosecution how many times she tried to contact the deceased, Asnida replied three times.
She said that after failing to reach Muhammad Hanafiee, she continued to work and tried contacting him again at around 4pm where she was again directed to his voicemail.
Asnida said that she went home at 5pm and after breaking fast, she tried contacting him again but to no avail.
After that, she decided to go to his house at Kingfisher, which he shared with two other tenants, and knocked on the door but no one was home, she said.
She also looked around for Muhammad Hanafiee’s car and said that it was not there.
“After that I called his sister to ask if he went back to his village home but was told that he was not there,” she said.
She said that she then proceeded to wait at the Mamak shop at Kingfisher for one hour to see if he went there, but he did not.
Asnida said she also asked Muhammad Hanafiee’s friend if he was hanging out with them but the answer came in negative.
To a question as to how she knew where the deceased was living, she said: “Because I accompanied him (there) to pick up money to buy ring(s).”
She also said that Muhammad Hanafiee’s friend had tried asking other people and later told Asnida that there was a car parked at Indah Permai, near the bazaar area.
To this, the prosecution asked: “What time did you receive this information?”
Witness: Around 11pm.
The prosecution: What was your action after getting the information?
Witness: We rushed to the location to see if the vehicle was that of Muhammad Hanafiee or not.
The prosecution: When you arrived at Indah Permai, how was the situation there?
Witness: He was not at the location.
The prosecution: What can be seen at the location?
Witness: I saw his car and I disembarked from my vehicle and I tried to see the car.
She added that the car was locked and with a torchlight, she could see blood stains on the steering, driver seat, as well as on the front mirror which appeared to have been wiped.
Asnida also said that there was a foot mark printed by dried soil on the driver’s side carpet.
She was also asked how she was able to identify Muhammad Hanafiee’s car, to which she replied there was the “Fake Taxi” sticker and on the dashboard, there was a ‘Dead Pool’ accessory, and she also remembered the car’s plate number.
She also said that she saw the driver’s seat belt had been cut off, and she had probably arrived at Indah Permai around midnight.
She added that after the patrol police arrived at the place, she contacted Muhammad Hanafiee’s family that they had found his car and asked his family to bring the spare key to Indah Permai from Kota Belud.
Asnida also told the High Court in the murder trial against Arsit Indanan, 27, that Muhammad Hanafiee always informed her about his whereabouts and what he was doing, and their relationship was boyfriend and girlfriend.
Another witness called to the stand on Wednesday was Suffian Manan, who runs a food and drink business.
Suffian told the High Court that on 26 May 2019, while selling at the Bazaar Ramadhan in Tuaran, he was summoned by his uncle who told him that children in the village had found a dead body in the bushes around 12pm.
He added that as soon as he received his uncle’s telephone call, he went back to his village to meet with the latter to find out about the exact location before proceeding to the area.
“I saw a human corpse lying face down. After confirming that it was a human corpse, I contacted the Tuaran police headquarters and waited for them at the place to monitor the villagers,” he said.
He said that he was not aware of the corpse’s gender and said that it was wearing a trousers.
He also said that he stopped curious onlookers from going near the corpse as he was afraid they would take photographs and post them on social media.
Suffian also said that the area where the corpse was found was a bush area, with some wet parts, and had one tall tree.
He also mentioned the place could be accessed by vehicles.
Arsit, who was represented by government-assigned counsel Mohd Ari Nadzrah Abd Rahmad was accused of murdering Muhammad Hanafiee inside a car at the roadside of Jalan Marabahai in Tuaran between 4am and 5am on May 25, 2019.
The charge against Arsit, who is undocumented, was under Section 302 of the Penal Code which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
The prosecution was handled by Azreen Yas Mohamad Ramli, Rozanna Abd Hadi and Siti Hajar Mazlan.
During the trial on Wednesday, Mohd Ari asked Justice Shim if the accused could be ‘double chained’ as he appeared unstable in the accused cage.
The trial will resume on May 11.