The fifth and final defence witness in the Metro Tabernacle Church arson case took the stand today as the defence maintained its 11th hour alibi that the accused - brothers Raja Muhammad Faizal Raja Ibrahim and Raja Muhammad Idzham Raja Ibrahim - suffered burns not while setting fire to the church but at a barbeque on the night of the incident on Jan 7 this year.

Teacher Mohd Hamzan Zainal Abidin claimed that the brothers attended a barbeque at his house to share some ‘chicken and squid’ adding they were late by two hours for the 10pm do.

NONE "When they arrived, I asked them what took them so long and they told me they went to watch a church get burned," he said during cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Azlina Rasdi.

Hamzan was backing the alibi given by the brothers who claimed they had gone to watch around seven to eight people torch the Metro Tabernacle Church after hearing of plans to do so.

Hamzan admitted he had not revealed the barbeque event at his house until today.

He was visibly nervous when pressured by Azlina on the details of the barbecue, claiming that he did not see the incident that allegedly injured Faizal, 24 ( above ), and Idzham, 22, but saw them physically hurt.

Hamzan said after the brothers arrived for the barbecue, he asked them to prepare the fire, which was to be set up near a spot to burn rubbish, while he went into his house to get the chicken and squid.

It wasn’t long before he heard frantic screaming, prompting him to rush out to see Faizal struggling to take off his shirt while Idzham had his left hand injured when helping his older brother, he claimed.

‘I was busy’

When asked by Sessions Court judge SM Komathy Suppiah who put out the fire after the incident, Hamzan said he put out the fire when cleaning up, clarifying that he did see a fire but did not witness it flare up and injure the brothers.

Earlier, Hamzan struggled to back his claim that he was close to the brothers when pressed by Azlina, agreeing to her contention that he did not visit them even once in the hospital despite knowing of their injuries.

NONE He also agreed that he had not made an effort to look for them after the incident and only met them again sometime in March or April this year, This was contrary to regularly meeting up with them before the barbecue.

Hamzan refuted Azlina’s contention that the barbecue story was fabricated and was only concocted when he met the brothers sometime in March or April this year.

On Jan 29, Muhammad Faizal, Muhammad Idzham and 23-year-old friend Azuman Shah Ahmad, all despatch riders, all claimed trial to setting fire to the Metro Tabernacle church in Desa Melawati ( above ), Wangsa Maju on the night of Jan 7 this year.

Azuman was earlier acquitted without his defence being called. Both the prosecution and defence will submit on Friday.