SIBU: A van driver with an oil palm plantation has been charged with the murder of two Indonesian women in Daro near here.

       Ahmad Robin, 31, faces the mandatory death sentence if convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

       No plea was taken from the accused when the charges were read to him before Sibu High Court Judicial Commissioner Christopher Chin Soo Yin here on Friday (March 4).

       According to the first charge, he is alleged to have caused the death of Pandang Sarang at about 11am on Feb 11 at an oil palm plantation in Daro.

       On the second charge, he is alleged to have caused the death of Muli Laha at 11pm on the same day at another oil palm plantation in Daro.

       A third victim identified as Tene, who was allegedly attacked by the accused on the same day, survived.

       Ahmad was arrested in Jalan Sentral Daro at 3.30pm on Feb 12, while the bodies of the victims were discovered at Dermaga RC Sungai Samong in Daro on Feb 12 and Feb 14.

       Immediately after the charges were read, the husbands of the two victims were called to testify as prosecution witnesses.

       The trial proceedings were initiated to allow them to bring their wives' bodies home to Indonesia for burial.

       Muli's husband Ero Nyala, however, was unable to give evidence as he told the court he was not mentally prepared to testify.

       Pandang's husband Sijaya, 50, testified that at 7.20am on the day of the incident, his wife told him she would be going to the bazaar in Daro to buy their daily necessities together with Mulia and Tene.

       He said the accused, whom he knew by the nickname "Salleh", drove them to town in his car.

       "Pandang took along RM2,500. I knew this as I had earlier counted the money and passed it to her. She was wearing a gold necklace and a gold earring," he recalled.

       The next morning, he said he and Ero became worried for their wives' safety as they had not returned.

       They then went to search for their wives.

       Another van driver with the plantation later told them police had found the bodies of the two women.

       Deputy public prosecutor Dona Liyanna Sabariah Azmi prosecuted while Ben Lau was the assigned counsel for the accused.