The defence counsel in the hearing into the shooting death of Aminulrasyid Amzah, 15, today tried to raise doubts over witness Zafrullah Ahmad Zainal Abidin's testimony before the Sessions Court in Shah Alam by suggesting that he has close ties with Aminulrasyid's family.

NONE Zafrullah, 28, ( right ) testified that he had called Shahriman, the brother of the teen and a childhood friend, on April 26, while walking from his house on Jalan Silat Gayung to the scene of the incident at Jalan Tarian 11/2 in Shah Alam.

"I called him because the crash happened near his house. He didn't answer this phone," Zafrullah said of the incident that had taken place about 100 metres from Aminulrasyid's house.

Not satisfied with the response, defence counsel MM Athimulan suggested that Zafrullah had called Shahriman because he already knew that the car involved belonged to a member of Aminulrasyid's family.

Athimulan:

You knew Aminulrasyid was in the car. That's why you called Shahriman.

Zafrullah: No, I called because it happened near his house. I wanted to tell him. He didn't answer.

Athimulan:

It's not near. His house is at the end of the road (Jalan Makyong).

Zafrullah: It was in front of the lane leading to his house.

azlan Athimulan: It's not in front of his house. Not near his house. That means you knew the white car belonged to him?

Zafrullah:

I didn't know. I've never seen (the car).

Later, second defence counsel Salim Bashir also grilled Zafrullah on the same matter.

Salim: You didn't know whose car that was and who was involved, so why call Shahriman?

Zafrullah: I wanted to tell him that something happened at his house.

Salim:

Do you tell Shahriman of all the accidents that happen there?

Zafrullah:

He is a friend who lives near my house. The incident happened between my house and his.

‘I did not read from a script'

Salim also asked why Zafrullah had waited three days before lodging his police report and whether his police statement was written by his lawyer, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri.

"The lawyer said she would accompany me to the police station at the appropriate time. I gave my statement on the spot. I did not read from a script," he said, adding that he had decided to lodge the report to help the deceased's family.

The witness said he had previously detailed what he saw to the lawyer, who was introduced to him by Aminulrasyid's family.

The 28-year-old student also testified that he did not speak to one Mona before lodging his police report.

Mona Liza Mohtar had accompanied Azamuddin Omar, 15, who was with the deceased in the Proton Iswara, at a press conference during which the teenager claimed that he was assaulted by police.

A regular in the public gallery

A member of the parent-teacher association at Azamuddin's school, Mona is a regular in the public gallery of the courtroom, and has been seen conversing with members of the deceased's family.

NONE Appearing calm throughout his testimony, Zafrullah had earlier said that Shahriman called him at 8am that same day to say that his sister's car and his younger brother were missing.

The witness said he then told Shahriman the colour, make and part of the plate number of the car that crashed and Shahriman appeared to be taken aback ( tergamam ) when he heard this, but did not want to jump to the conclusion that the driver in the crash was Aminulrasyid.

Last week, Zafrullah testified that he did not recognise Aminulrasyid when he saw the body, which was lying face down on the driver's seat.

He had been to Aminulrasyid's house several times but had never seen the car, which belonged to the deceased's sister.

Police Corporal Jenain Subi, 48, ( above ) is charged with culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, of Aminulrasyid between 1.10am and 2am on April 26, 2010.

If convicted, Jenain faces up to 30 years in jail and a fine.

Court visits Aminulrasyid's death scene