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Thursday February 12, 2004

27-year-old suspect held over murder of Sabah assistant minister

BY MUGUNTAN VANAR

NORJAN KHAN BAHADAR: Stabbed in the neck and face.
KOTA KINABALU: State assistant minister Datuk Norjan Khan Bahadar was found murdered with stab wounds on her neck and face in a hotel room at Bandaran Berjaya here yesterday morning.

A 27-year-old man was arrested by police several hours after the discovery of the 52-year-old Wanita Umno exco member’s body.

Norjan, a nominated assemblywoman and a former Sabah Wanita head, was found lying in a pool of blood on the carpeted floor by the side of her bed on the second floor of the 11-storey Hotel Shangrila.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Illiyas Ibrahim told reporters after briefing Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman at the airport here the 27 year-old suspect, a local, was picked up at 1pm near the three-star locally based hotel.

Hotel staff who went to clean Room 208 at about 9am entered the room with a master key on receiving no response to their knocks and immediately called the police on seeing Norjan's body.

Word of the murder of Norjan, described as a bubbly friendly politician, shocked Barisan Nasional politicians here, with Sabah Umno leaders, who said they had lost a hard-working leader, asking: “Why would anyone want to kill her?”

Norjan, who was assistant rural development minister, had checked into two rooms of the hotel at about 7.30pm on Tuesday. She stayed in Room 208 and three of her Umno friends including the daughter of one of them, in adjacent Room 205.

Her friends told reporters, who were at the hotel lobby with Umno politicians including Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Lajim Okin and other state ministers, that they and Norjan had chatted about politics at the hotel coffeehouse after checking in.

BROTHER'S GRIEF: Norjan's brother Ghulam being comforted by Deputy Primary Industries Minister Datuk Anifah Aman at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital mortuary in Kota Kinabalu Wednesday. - STARpic by Normimie Diun
Two of the friends, Rosnah Mohamed and Rosdah Yahya, said they all went to their rooms at about 11pm.

Hotel staff and guests at the coffeehouse said they remembered seeing Norjan coming down again later.

According to them, Norjan and one of her friends met up with a man at the coffeehouse and they returned to their rooms just before midnight.

“Usually, Norjan would call us for breakfast whenever we stayed in a hotel but this time she did not,” said Rosnah, explaining how she tried calling Norjan on her cellular phone but did not receive any response.

By 10am, she inquired from front desk staff, who informed her that something had happened and the police were in Norjan’s room.

OCPD Asst Comm Hamdan Mohamad said the motive for the murder could be anything including revenge and jealousy but ruled out robbery because her handbag and other valuables were untouched.

ACP Hamdan said they found stab wounds on Norjan's neck and bruises on the face.

“There were blood stains on the bed,” he said, adding that there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle as the room looked tidy.

ACP Hamdan said the hotel did not have closed-circuit cameras in the corridors of the rooms and the only cameras installed were in the coffeehouse area.

“We viewed the tapes from the cameras and got nothing,” he added.

Asked about claims by some hotel guests that they had heard what sounded like an argument in Norjan’s room around 2am, ACP Hamdan replied; “No, we don’t think so.”

Norjan’s body remained at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital mortuary with a stream of grieving family members and politicians waiting outside for a post-mortem to be concluded.

Her brother, Ghulam Khan Bahadar, said the funeral would be at their family home in Kampung Pengalat Besar, in Papar, about 30km from here, at 10am today.

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