It has become a familiar routine over the past two months. The convoy of police vehicles pulling up at the doors of the suburban courthouse. The two accused women hustled up the stairs in bullet proof vests.

The two women – Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong – stand jointly accused along with four men from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of having "common intent" to kill Kim Jong Nam. But from the beginning, the police described the men as the masterminds. The women, the prosecution contends, were their protegees, trained to assassinate the estranged half-brother of the DPRK leader in broad daylight, in a packed air terminal, using a deadly nerve agent.

On a rare occasion that he spoke to the media, prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said the defense had the upper hand. 

"We are fighting an uphill battle in this case. We are the underdogs," he said. 

It seemed a tacit admission of the weakness of the prosecution’s case: Attempting to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the two women knew they were taking part in an assassination and should be hanged, though the women’s comportment immediately after the attack, as revealed in the court, suggests otherwise. 

The two defendants did head to a toilet apparently to wash their hands. However, as the defense attorneys pointed out after a court session held at the air terminal, the women went to a toilet on another floor when there was one just meter from where the attack allegedly took place – not what you’d expect if they were worried about exposure to a deadly toxin.

While the four DPRK men changed their clothes and their appearances, with one of the men even shaving off facial hair, the women ambled off in the same clothes, including the highly distinctive sweat shirt emblazoned with the words "LOL," which was easily captured on security cameras. Instead of hopping on flights to rush out of the country with the four men, the women headed to nearby hotels. 

Surely anyone who has watched the occasional police procedural on TV would know the tactics used after killing someone: Disposing of the murder weapon and the clothing worn during the killing, even more so if it could be contaminated with a deadly chemical.

Instead, when the women were arrested in the following days, they were still in possession of the incriminating clothing. It did not help the prosecution build a compelling picture of them as trained assassins. 

Rather, the evidence seems to be bolstering the defense's contention the women were duped, thinking they were taking part in a prank for a reality TV show.

Amid the media circus and the international intrigue of this case, it’s easy to forget the tragic and painful end Kim Jong Nam met: His blood ties to the leader of the DPRK.

Kim Jong Nam appeared to have been a man affable, humble and music-loving, trying to quietly live his life as a private citizen, out of the spotlight, with no interest in political power.

With the people Malaysian authorities believe were the masterminds of the killing having fled to the DPRK, regardless of the outcome of this current trial, it looks as if Kim Jong Nam’s loved ones are unlikely to ever see justice properly done.