High Court sets October trial dates for Nhaveen murder case following overturned acquittal

GEORGE TOWN, July 3 — The High Court here has scheduled eight trial dates in October for four men charged with the murder of teenager T Nhaveen nine years ago.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Amril Johari confirmed that Judge Radzi Abdul Hamid will preside over the trial from October 7 to 9, and again from October 12 to 16.

A case mention has been set for July 13, following proceedings conducted via Zoom today, Free Malaysia Today reported.

The case centres on the death of 18-year-old Nhaveen, who succumbed to severe head injuries on June 15, 2017. The attack, which occurred near the Karpal Singh Learning Centre in Bukit Gelugor, sparked nationwide outrage and ignited a critical conversation regarding bullying and homophobic violence in Malaysia.

The legal path to this trial has been protracted. In October 2023, the High Court initially acquitted S Gopinath, J Ragesuthan, S Gokulan, and two others who were juveniles at the time of the offence.

However, the Court of Appeal overturned that decision in January 2025, ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case and ordering the accused to enter their defence.

The trial faced further delays when the prosecution struggled to locate and serve the notice of appeal to Gopinath. To prevent further stagnation, the Federal Court struck out the prosecution's notice of appeal against Gopinath two weeks ago, clearing the way for the trial of the remaining four accused to proceed.

The prosecution was represented by Amril Johari and Deputy Public Prosecutor Yazid Mustaqim Roshan, while the accused were represented by lawyers Manvir Singh Dhillon and R Thevan.