UPNM student Muhammad Ilham Zamree, 22, said he saw the accused, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, holding a steam iron when he went to a room to pick up his uniform which he left there earlier.
Asked what Najib was doing, he said he only saw him holding the iron but did not hear or see anyone else as the room was dark.
The room, believed to be the crime scene where Zulfarhan was tortured and murdered, was occupied by five students, including Najib and Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azma, who are charged with killing Zulfarhan, and Mohamad Lukhmanul Hakim Mohd Zain, who is accused of causing injury to the victim.
During examination-in-chief by Kuala Lumpur prosecution director Othman Abdullah at the trial which entered its 20th day today, Ilham said he only entered the room to pick up his uniform and left immediately after.
Asked why he left in a hurry, he said this was because he was uncomfortable with those in the room.
On whether he knew that Zulfarhan was tortured with a hot steam iron, he said he knew but did not see it.
Earlier, the steam iron, believed to have been used to torture Zulfarhan was brought into the courtroom, and Ilham, who had known the victim since they were 16, identified the iron as his.
He said he had allowed his friends at the hostel to use it.
Six UPNM students – Najib, Akmal, Muhammad Azamuddin, Muhammad Afif Najmudin, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali – have pleaded not guilty to the murder and abetment in the murder of Zulfarhan at the Jebat hostel block of UPNM in Sungai Besi here between 4.45am and 5.45am on May 22, 2017.
The charges against the six, all aged 22, were made under Section 302 and 109 of the Penal Code, which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
The six, together with 13 other students, were also charged with voluntarily causing hurt to the victim to make him confess to laptop theft, under Section 330 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code, which provides for a maximum jail term of seven years and a fine, if convicted.
The hearing before judge Azman Abdullah continues on Friday.