A witness, who earlier testified that he saw police constable N Navindran beat suspected car thief A Kugan with a rubber hose while in detention, stood his ground when cross-examined today.

Lance Corporal Junid Harun, 34, testified that although he did not see what Navindran was holding in his hand when he came into the Taipan police station but he saw the accused use a rubber hose to beat Kugan.

This corroborates his testimony on April 23 when he said he saw Navindran hit Kugan with a rubber hose after speaking to the latter in an angry tone.

azlan Junid added that he then asked Navindran - who was on duty from 12pm to 4pm to leave - saying that he was no longer on duty as his shift was drawing to a close.

Junid also reiterated that he did not make a note of this in the station diary as the incident happened minutes before he officially began duty from 4pm to 8pm on Jan 19, 2009.

He also reasoned that he didn’t record the incident as Detective Corporal Avtar Singh, who was his superior, also witnessed the incident.

When asked how many times Kugan was hit with the hose, Junid said ‘multiple times’. He said he was unable to say exactly how many time as it happened too fast. He also testified that Kugan did not scream and when asked, Junid said Kugan told him he ‘was fine’.

Junid testimony was followed by that of Lance Corporal Shamsul Kamal Ismail, 48, who took over the shift at police station that day from 8pm to 12am.

Shamsul had also taken Kugan out of the Serious Crimes office in the Taipan police station to assist in follow-ups in the case.

No injuries spotted

Asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Lailawati Ali if he had noticed any injuries on Kugan, Shamsul testified that he saw marks on the suspect’s wrists.

However, when shown a photo of the deceased’s wrists on the morning he died, Shamsul said the injuries he had seen was not the same as shown in the photo.

When shown other photos of Kugan’s injuries, he testified that he had noticed none of the injuries on the deceased’s back, lower arms, upper lip and lower legs.

Asked by defence lawyer PM Nagarajan if he noticed that Kugan was in pain when he took the shift from Junid, Shamsul said that he did not remember.

kugan ananthan funeral 230109 He, however, testified that Kugan did not complain that he was hit, nor did Junid tell Shamsul about the earlier incident. Shamsul also testified that he did not see blood on Kugan’s shirt.

When re-examined by Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abas, Shamsul said that he did not conduct any physical examination on Kugan who was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts while in detention.

Shamsul who is the prosecution's 20th witness, was testifying in the case of the death of Kugan in police custody on Jan 20, 2009. Navindran, 28, had pleaded not guilty on Oct 1, 2009 to a charge of causing grievous hurt to Kugan, 23.

He is charged with committing the offence at the interrogation room of the Taipan police station, USJ, Subang Jaya, at 7am on Jan 16, 2009. He has been charged under Section 331 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of 10 years and a fine upon conviction.

Navindran also pleaded not guilty to two alternative charges of causing hurt to Kugan at the same time and place under Section 330 of the Penal Code.