PETALING JAYA: An unemployed man was charged at the magistrate's court here today with the murder of an interior designer who was found dead with 20 stab wounds at an apartment at Bandar Sri Damansara last month.
Lim Wah Siong,50, nodded to indicate he understood the charge read out to him in Mandarin before magistrate Shahril Anuar Ahmad Mustapha.
No plea was recorded as the case is under the High Court's jurisdiction.
Clad in a blue T-shirt looking calm and composed in the dock, Lim was accused of murdering Muhammad Sharqawi Abu Bakar, 36, at about 9pm at an apartment unit in Persiaran Meranti on Sept 14.
He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, which carries the death penalty by hanging.
The court set Nov 8 for the submission of the chemist and post-mortem reports.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurain Syafiqeen Mohd Rozi prosecuted.
On Sept 16, district police chief Assistant Commissioner Shahrulnizam Ja'afar said Sharqawi's body was discovered after a neighbour said he did not leave the house following a heated argument.
Shahrulnizam said there were 20 stab wounds on various parts of the Sharqawi's body, with five stab wounds on the left rib, which are believed to have caused his death.
He said there were also six other stab wounds on Sharqawi's head, and nine on both wrists.
The victim, a part-time interior designer, lived alone in the house, which he had bought last year.
Shahrulnizam said the accused was one of three men arrested at an apartment in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 20.
He said their probe showed the suspects had allegedly broken into the victim's home to commit theft.
However, the victim, who discovered the suspects, tried to fight them off but it resulted in his death.
The suspects, who are housemates but were unknown to Sharqawi, have multiple criminal records.