A 51-year-old businessman and his two bodyguards were today acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court from the charge of murdering his 14-year-old nephew from China last September.

According to a Bernama report, Justice Abdul Kadir Musa acquitted and discharged them after the prosecution failed to prove a prima facie case against them

Koh Kim Teck and his bodyguards - Resty Agpalo, 33 and Mohamad Najib Zulkifli, 25 were accused of murdering Xu Jian Huang in a bungalow in Kuala Lumpur between 11pm on Sept 26, 2004 and 3.30am the next day.

After the verdict, an elated Koh thanked his friends, colleagues and monks who held prayers for his release.

The businessman later told reporters that he wants to take a rest after the year-long court ordeal.

Report to Suhakam

Resty, who broke down after the verdict, told reporters he would go to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to explain the case and the way police conducted the investigations.

Thanking God for the court decision, Najib said he would hold special prayers soon. He said the court decision was expected.

DPP Ishak Yusof said he would wait for further instructions from the Attorney-General's Chambers before deciding whether to appeal against the verdict.

During the trial, it was alleged that the businessman and his bodyguard had abused the boy after discovering that he had allegedly stolen money from the former.

According to the prosecution, on Sept 25, Xu had written a letter confessing that he had stolen RM30,000.

This, claimed the DPP, had angered Koh, leading him and his bodyguard to allegedly abuse the boy.

Xu had been staying with his uncle and was studying in an international school in Kuala Lumpur.