BUTTERWORTH: A cow herder appeared calm and composed as he acknowledged a murder charge involving a 40-year-old woman at a Magistrate’s Court here.

       No plea was recorded from M. Kirubakaran, 29, who nodded that he understood the charge of murdering clerk Lee Ling Tee between 3am and 4am, on Aug 28, at a house in Jalan Permatang Ara, Taman Seruling Emas in Sungai Jawi, Nibong Tebal.

       He was charged before magistrate Aziana Azib under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

       In the same court, Kirubakaran pleaded guilty to two separate charges under Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 after testing positive for two drugs (methamphetamine and amphetamine) in his system at 1am on Aug 29 at the south Seberang Prai district police headquarters’ Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department.

       Deputy public prosecutor Nurameera Shahrul Azrin said the murder charge was a non-bailable offence and asked for a case mention date pending the victim’s pathology and post-mortem reports.

       Aziana told Kirubakaran that due to the murder charge, no bail would be offered for the drug charges pending sentencing.

       She set Nov 8 for case mention for all three cases.

       Kirubakaran was arrested on Aug 29 in connection with the rape and death of a woman on Aug 28.