KOTA KINABALU: A woman, who admitted to killing her former husband in a high-profile murder case that released Special Branch policemen under Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) earlier this year, has been charged for the murder.
The woman, Nurima Juli, 34, and her stepbrother Sadam Kiram, 30, were jointly charged for the murder of ehailing driver Nurman Bakaratu under Section 302 of the Penal Code before Tawau magistrate Dayang Aidaku Amira Aminuddin on Friday.
Nurima and Sadam are accused of causing the death of Nurman, 61, between 7.30pm and 11.30pm on Jan 13, 2023, at an oil palm plantation near Jalan Anjur Juara, Jalan Apas Batu 5.
No plea was recorded from the two accused. The case is expected to be transferred to the High Court.
Dayang Aidaku set June 6 for the case to be mentioned.
The two were not represented while deputy public prosecutor Fakhrurazi Ahmad Salim led the prosecution.
The fresh murder charge against Nurima comes after she testified in the High Court on Jan 25 during the trial of eight people including former Esscom intelligence chief Datuk Mat Zaki Zain that she had killed her husband with a pair of scissors. The murder charges against the eight were immediately dropped by the prosecution following her admission to the murder, which she said took place inside his car at the plantation.
On Friday, the prosecution also asked the magistrate to drop a previous charge of tampering with evidence under Section 201 of the Penal Code against Saddam following the latest murder charge against him.
Saddam was charged in August last year for disposing of the evidence related to the murder of Nurman.
He was alleged to have disposed of the scissors at Sungai Kinabutan Besar Bridge close to the crime scene.
Nurima was first charged on Jan 30, 2023 for murder.
However, she later turned key prosecution witness in the case against the eight people initially charged for Nurman’s murder.
Following Nurima’s confession to the murder, the eight people charged for Nurman’s murder were acquitted and released immediately by Tawau High Court judge Duncan Sikodol.
The acquittal and release came after an application by the prosecution to not proceed with the case.
On July 7 last year, Mat Zaki, 58, along with six policemen and a civilian were charged with the murder of the ehailing driver.
