FRENCHWOMAN Stephanie Foray was killed by petty trader Asni Omar, who struck her with a liquor bottle, the prosecution said in the opening of the trial yesterday.
Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Salim Soib @ Hamid told the High Court here that Asni was the last person seen with 30-year-old Foray on Pulau Tioman on May 10 last year. He said the prosecution would prove that it was Asni who had killed Foray and buried her body in a cave.
"During interrogation at the Mersing police headquarters on Aug 8 last year, the accused told Inspector Mohd Zairi Badderul that Foray had died and her body was buried in a cave behind his house in Kampung Tekek, Pulau Tioman," said Salim, adding that Asni took police to the cave on the same day.
Police later retrieved a liquor bottle which was allegedly used by Asni to kill the victim at a waste disposal site in Tanjung Gemuk, Rompin.
Asni, 37, had earlier maintained his not guilty plea when the case was mentioned before judge Datuk Mariana Yahya yesterday. He is charged with murdering Foray at an unnumbered house in Kampung Tekek between 8pm on May 10 and noon on May 12 last year.
Salim was assisted by DPPs Nor Azizah Mohamad and Farah Nazri while Asni was represented by five lawyers -- Mohd Hisham Abdul Rahim, Ibrahim Kamaruddin, Datuk Ng See Teong, Noor Adilah Zarian and Suraya Haranay.
Foray's family has appointed counsel Amy Ling to hold a watching brief.
Mariana has fixed the trial to begin from yesterday to May 31 and about 55 witnesses are expected to take the stand.
Clad in a blue striped T-shirt and pants, Asni appeared calm.
Foray, a 30-year-old civil servant from Bour-en-Bresse, France, arrived in Malaysia on May 5 after touring India and Sri Lanka.
She spent a few nights in Malacca and arrived at Pulau Tioman on May 10. In June, police launched an investigation.
The first witness, detective Corporal Roslan Ishak, told the court yesterday that he had taken 31 pictures, including the cave where Foray's skeletal remains were found and the suspect's room where they discovered bloodstains on the wall.
