Judge in Anwar trial misdirected himself, says lawyer
Anwar Ibrahim's conviction for sodomy should have been set aside because his co-accused Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja was used against him, the Court of Appeal heard today.
Lawyer Karpal Singh (
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) submitted that High Court judge Arifin Jaka misdirected himself when he relied on Sukma's confession to find the ex-deputy premier guilty of the offence.
"A confession of a co-accused cannot be made a base of a conviction for the other accused. A confession can only be taken (into consideration) to support an existing strong evidence," he said.
Karpal said the judge can only consider the confession after he was convinced that the prosecution has submitted enough evidence to support its case beyond reasonable doubt.
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