A chemist told the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today that the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati had come under an arson attack on Jan 7.

Shaari Desa, 43, said he drew this conclusion after finding petrol traces on plastic containers left at the church when conducting investigations on Jan 8.

He said when he arrived at the scene at 4.35pm, he found fire-blackened areas on the ground floor while the front entrance of the building was severely burnt.

"Further checks on the floor revealed signs of inflammable material having been used to start the fire.

"One other important object we discovered at the the scene was an adjustable spanner," he said.

NONE The adjustable spanner is one of the case materials and is alleged to have been used to break glass panels at the church's entrance doors.

In this trial, Raja Mohamad Faizal Raja Ibrahim, 24, his brother Raja Mohamad Idzham, 22, and Azuwan Shah Ahmad, 23, are charged with several other people still at large, with committing mischief by by burining the church located at Jalan 4/4C, Desa Melawati at 11.50pm on Jan 7.

The trio, all of whom are despacth clerks, have been charged under Section 436 of the Penal Code and liable to be jailed up to 20 years and fined if convicted.

Asked by counsel Haniff Hashim, who is representing Raja Mohamad Faizal and Raja Mohamad Idzham, whether the presence of many people at the scene hampered his work, Shaari said it did pose some difficulties but the conclusions drawn from his investigations were based on factual evidence.

The hearing before judge SM Komathy Suppiah continues tomorrow.

- Bernama