The High Court was today told that the recorded statement by U Suresh, who is the 29th prosecution witness in the murder case of cosmetic millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three other individuals, could not be used in court.

Counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon, who represented former lawyer N Pathmanaban, the first accused in the murder case, submitted that the laptop and the media storage device were used by the recording officer from the Dang Wangi police, ASP Ong Seng Keong.

He said nobody knew the content of what was typed in the laptop.

“Ong was said to have left the interrogation room and on his return, brought along a 24-page recorded statement.

“There was no evidence to prove how the document (recorded statement) was printed,” he said when submitting in a ‘trial-within-a-trial’ to determine the admissibility of the contents of Suresh’s recorded statement under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

    

The prosecution had earlier noted that Suresh made 22 contradicting remarks in his testimony.

Suresh is currently serving a 20 years jail sentence for disposing off evidence pertaining to the murders of Sosilawati and the other three individuals.

NONE Pathmanabhan and three farm workers, T Thilaiyalagan, R Matan and R Kathavarayan are charged with murdering Sosilawati, 47 ( right ), her driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 47, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38.

The offence was allegedly committed at Lot No: 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting, between 8.30pm and 9.45pm, on Aug 30, last year.

If found guilty they face the death sentence under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read with Section 34 of the same code.

Mistake over birth place

        

Meanwhile, lawyer Gurbachan Singh, who represented Thilaiyalagan, questioned the mistake on Suresh’s place of birth, which was supposed to be Teluk Intan.

“On the first page, it is stated Teluk Intan, but in subsequent pages, it is stated Taiping.

“Had this been translated to Suresh, he certainly would have corrected the mistake,” he added.

Lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad, who represented the third accused, said the prosecution had failed to prove that Suresh and the interpreter were not able to see that what was written and typed by Ong was the same as the answers given by Suresh.

To this the prosecution, represented by deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff, said that Ong only prepared the leading question.

    

“Ong clarified that he (Ong) prepared the questions based on pictures, newspaper reports, the briefing by investigating officer, ASP Mohd Ishak Yaakob, and report from Chief Inspector N Govindan,” he added.

The hearing before judge Akhtar Tahir continues tomorrow.

- Bernama