The trial on the murder of cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three other individuals at the High Court in Shah Alam has been adjourned to Nov 29.

Justice Akhtar Tahir decided on the date to allow time for the defence to scrutinise more than 1,000 documents in the digital video disc (DVD) and compact disc (CD) format which it received from the prosecution only yesterday.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff told the court that the prosecution was ready to call its 76th witness, a computer forensics officer.  

However, he asked for the hearing to be adjourned as the defence wanted more time to examine the documents.

Counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon then informed the court that certain documents given to them were not relevant to the case and that both parties would meet on Tuesday to resolve the matter.

“This will save the court’s time. It is going to take days just to go through the list and both the prosecution and defence should meet before the evidence is tendered and we will work out what is going to be put up and what should not,” he submitted.

Former lawyer N Pathmanabhan, 42, and three farm hands, T Thilaiyalagan, 20,  R Matan, 21, and R Khatavarayan, 31, are accused of murdering Sosilawati, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44.

They allegedly committed the offence at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjong Layang in Tanjung Sepat, Banting, between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.

The charge, under Section 302 of the Penal Code read with Section 34 of the same Code carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

- Bernama