SHAH ALAM: Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, accused of murdering North Korean Kim Chol, was recorded smearing 'something' on the face of an unsuspecting public member two days before the Feb 13 incident, the High Court heard.
Police officer Assistant Superintendent Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz testified today that the action was captured by Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) on Feb 11.
Wan Azirul, who is an investigating officer from Sepang police headquarters assigned to handle the case, said one of the recordings from 23 DVD's of CCTV footages showed Doan, 28, approaching a person from behind before putting her hands onto the person's face at the airport's departure hall on Level 3.
However, he said, although the move committed by the woman was similar to what she allegedly did on the deceased on Feb 13, Doan was "more relaxed" and even took time to "apologise before walking away slowly after".
"The accused Doan was seen (on the video) approaching a member of the public she chose randomly from behind, and smeared something on the person's face.
"When the person turned towards her, she made a gesture like apologising by lowering her head and putting her hands together in front, before walking several steps and turned away slowly," said Wan Azirul during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin.
Wan Azirul told the court that police obtained a total of 23 DVDs of CCTV recordings from the international airport, 22 of which were from the day Kim Chol was killed while only one was on Feb 11.
The police officer during his testimony described the action by Doan on Feb 11 as a rehearsal to the murder, but this was immediately objected to by Doan's lawyer Hisham Teh Poh Teik.
When asked to elaborate on what he saw on footages from Feb 13, Wan Azirul said he could differentiate, based on his observation, that Doan was "more aggressive in her action towards the deceased compared to when she did it to the member of the public in the Feb 11 video."
"The action on the deceased on the incident day was rough as if the accused was attacking him. Another difference that I can see was the accused Doan was walking fast and in a hurry."
Wan Azirul was introduced as the ninth prosecution witness and the examination-in-chief is expected to resume tomorrow.
Earlier, eighth prosecution witness Dr S. Raja, who is the head chemist of the Chemistry Department's Chemical Weapon Analysis Centre, told the court that the level of VX nerve agent dosage found on Kim Chol's skin was above the lethal dose.
He testified that analysis revealed that VX on the deceased was 0.2mg per kg body weight, about 1.4 times the dose that is known to be lethal to human.
Dr Raja said VX lethal dose was 0.142mg, based on record from previous known VX incident, which occurred in Osaka, Japan, in 1994.
He also told the court that the Feb 13 incident was the second in the world after Osaka.
The witness also agreed to a suggestion by defence counsel Gooi Soon Seng that binary method (combining two elements to make a lethal VX dose during attack) was not possible in this case.
He also told the court that a blazer belonging to Kim Chol had been handed to police officer ASP Mohd Zaini Che Din on March 30, and that he was informed that selected samples including a bag, shoes, jeans, a ring and a watch belonging to the victim were returned to North Korea.
On March 1, Doan and another accused Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, were separately charged with murdering Kim Chol, 45, with four others still at large.
The duo allegedly committed the offence at the klia2 departure hall about 9am on Feb 13.