Kota Tinggit axe murder: Suspect remanded until Nov 3

KOTA TINGGI, Oct 28 — A 41-year-old man suspected of hacking an elderly settler to death with an axe in Felda Lok Heng Selatan was remanded for seven days today to facilitate a murder investigation.

Pengerang Sessions Court Judge Hidayatul Syuhada Shamsudin granted the remand order, allowing police to detain the suspect until Nov 3 for investigations under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

Handcuffed and dressed in orange lock-up attire, the suspect arrived at the court complex at 9.45am under heavy police escort.

Johor police chief Datuk Ab Rahaman Arsad said yesterday that investigators arrested the man inside a nearby oil palm plantation on Tuesday morning, seizing a motorcycle alongside an axe believed to have been used in the fatal attack.

Background checks revealed that the suspect carries six prior criminal and drug-related records.

The arrest came after an alert at 7.56pm on Monday, when passers-by found 68-year-old settler lying in a pool of blood by the roadside in Felda Lok Heng Selatan with severe slash wounds to his head and arms. Medical personnel subsequently pronounced him dead.

Prior to the discovery of the body, alarmed residents reported seeing an axe-wielding man behaving aggressively along the village roadside.