HULU TERENGGANU: Police have detained a 19-year-old girl to assist investigations into the murder of Siti Nur Surya Ismail at her family home in Kampung Lubuk Batu, Telemong on Sunday.
Hulu Terengganu District Police Chief Deputy Superintendent Mohd Adli Mat Daut said the arrest of the suspect — a school acquaintance of the victim — occurred at 8.15am on Monday after she turned up for questioning with her mother at the Hulu Terengganu Police Station.
He said the suspect was detained based on several pieces of evidence unearthed at the scene of the incident, as well as from closed circuit television footage installed at a birdhouse near the victim’s residence.
Mr Adli said the suspect’s statement was suspicious and that she also had injuries like bite marks on her hands, believed to have been sustained during a struggle.
He added that before the incident, the suspect was said to have gone to the victim’s house on a motorcycle.
While chatting in the living room, a misunderstanding between the two teens arose, which angered the suspect and then evolved into a fight, Mr Adli said.
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“While struggling, the suspect was said to have taken the kitchen knife which was in the living room before slashing the victim’s left wrist several times, causing it to be severed,” he said.
Police are still looking for a vegetable knife believed to have been used in the incident.
Mr Adli said the case had since been reclassified as murder from the previous robbery cum murder.
The suspect, who was in Form Six, was detained for investigation under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
She will be taken to the Marang magistrate’s court on Tuesday for a remand application.
The victim’s bedridden mother could only watch as the incident unfolded. She is immobile due to brain cancer.
Siti Nur Surya’s body was found sprawled in the living room by her sister, Diana Syuhada Ismail, 15, when she returned from school.
– Today Online