Malaysian Fishmonger to Hang for Killing 2 British Students

A Malaysian court on Tuesday sentenced a fishmonger to death for killing two British medical students last year on Borneo island.

Prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad said the high court found Zulkipli Abdullah, 23, guilty of stabbing to death Aidan Brunger and Neil Gareth Dalton in Sarawak state last August.

"The court ruled that his defense was merely an afterthought. The defense failed to raise any reasonable doubts in the case," Muhamad Iskandar said.

He said Zulkipli made an unsworn statement from the dock during his defense. Zulkipli told the court that he was involved in a fight with the two Britons along with two of his friends and that he punched one of them, but denied stabbing them to death with a knife.

However, Muhamad Iskandar said there was no gang fight and that the attack on the Britons was unprovoked.

The two men with Zulkipli testified for the prosecution and said that Zulkipli told them he wanted to "test his power" against bigger and taller foreigners, Muhamad Iskandar said. After killing the Britons, he sniffed the blood on his hands and told his friends that "the blood of white men smells nice," the prosecutor said.

Authorities found the folded knife that Zulkipli used in the murder at his house, which matched the stab wounds on the Britons, Muhamad Iskandar said.

Newcastle University students Brunger and Dalton, both 22, were found dead with stab wounds two days before their work placement at a Sarawak hospital was due to end.