Nhaveen murder trial adjourned to tomorrow after defence seeks time over witness statements

GEORGE TOWN, October 7 — The High Court adjourned the defense proceedings for four men charged with the 2017 murder of teenager T. Nhaveen to tomorrow. The defense requested additional time to review four witness statements presented to the prosecution the same day. Judge Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid granted the request and set the proceedings to resume at 9:30am the following day.

Defense lawyer Maanveer Singh Dhillon informed the court that the defense had limited time to meet the witnesses in prison to prepare the statements, which were finalized and ready to be delivered to the prosecution. The prosecution also required time to review the statements before the defense proceedings could continue. The four accused were represented by Dhillon, R. Thevan, and Lim Sheng Zhe.

The trial was originally scheduled to begin on October 7-9 and 12-16, but the Court of Appeal had previously ordered J. Ragesuthan, S. Gokulan, and two juveniles to enter their defenses for the murder charge. The four men, aged 27, were charged with murder and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons under Section 302 and 326 of the Penal Code.

The case was remitted to the Penang High Court for the defense stage. Nhaveen died on June 15, 2017, from severe injuries sustained in the incident, after six days of treatment at Penang Hospital.