The court case of former Penang Suaram coordinator Lau Shu Shi has been postponed to January, as the closed circuit TV recording on a compact disc showing that she allegedly acted in a disorderly manner was faulty.

Lau was charged with committing the offence on May 11, 2008 at the Jalan Pattani police station.

NONE Yesterday, magistrate Noraini Othman Yusof, who presided over the matter, fixed Jan 17 for the case to heard.

Lau ( left ), who currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, said the Georgetown magistrate’s court was told that the CD would be sent to the forensic and  multi-media department to have the files ‘restored’.

She expressed dismay at the latest developments, adding that the case has been "dragged and dragged" to give the police more time to act on the matter.

Lau lamented that she was not informed that the case would be postponed prior to her travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Penang today to attend the court proceeding.

“I really do not know what is their real intention (of doing this)... whether they want to charge me or drop the case, they should inform me,” she told Malaysiakini .

In October, the case was postponed as Deputy Public Prosecutor Selva Rajini asked to review the investigation papers upon receiving Suaram’s memorandum to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Suaram had sent the memorandum on Oct 11, detailing reasons why the charges against Lau should be dropped.

During the court proceedings, Lau and her lawyer Karen Lai were informed that the CD of the CCTV recording has a virus in it.

Still photographs ‘not clear’

Lai said the defence team were provided with photocopies of the still photographs, which were not clear.

Lai added that the case was postponed at the request of the DPP and on the next hearing date, if the trial proceeds, the prosecution would need to produce evidence for the court to decide upon.

Other than Lai, Lau’s legal defence team includes V Parthiban, Sukhinder Bal Singh and Ong Chin Wen.

In August, Lau was charged with disorderly conduct in a police station under section 90 of the Police Act.

The 1967 Act states that “any person who, in a police station, behaves in a riotous, indecent, disorderly or insulting manner, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act”.

If found guilty, Lau faces a maximum fine of RM500 or imprisonment for six months or both.

Lawyer: DPP lacks courtesy

Meanwhile, Lai said the defence team were disappointed that they were not informed of the DPP's intention to request for an adjournment earlier.

She said her client and lawyers were kept waiting in court until nearly 12pm yesterday, after all the mentions were completed, only to find out that the prosecution required more time to get the damaged CCTV recording examined by the two departments.

Lai said that while in principle, the lawyers would not object to requests for adjournments on reasonable grounds, they would certainly have appreciated the courtesy of a letter notifying them in advance of the prosecution's intention to seek an adjournment for the reasons mentioned.

“This has led to much wasted time, effort and expenses on the part of the accused and the defence team, “ she said.

“Lau, the accused, was present in court and had made a trip up to Penang from her workplace in Petaling Jaya, just for the trial,” she added.

“The lawyers in the defence team had also given priority to this trial by setting aside time and avoiding the fixing of other hearings during the assigned dates of Dec 27 and 28”.