The High Court in Shah Alam fixed Oct 23 and 25 to resume the murder trial of cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three other individuals.   

Judge Akhtar Tahir also fixed Nov 6 to 9 and Dec 3 to 7 as further trial dates when the case came up for mention before him today.   

In today’s proceedings, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Ishak Mohd Yusoff told the court that on Sept 13 the Court of Appeal had dismissed an appeal by the four accused, N Pathmanabhan, T Thilaiyalagan, R Matan and R Kathavarayan against Akhtar’s decision to set aside their application to subpoena three DPPs, including himself, as witnesses.   

Ishak said their application to adjourn the trial, pending their appeal to the Federal Court on the matter, had also been dismissed.    

On July 23, Akhtar dismissed the application by former lawyer Pathmanabhan and three farm workers, Thilaiyalagan, Matan and Kathavarayan to subpoena Ishak, Saiful Edris Zainuddin and Idham Abd Ghani as witnesses.     

The move was aimed at declaring as inadmissible two items of evidence presented by the DPPs at the end of the prosecution’s case to challenge the credibility of prosecution witnesses, U Suresh and K Sarawanan who they claimed had turned hostile.   

The items were the Telok Datok magistrates court’s trial notes, where Suresh and Sarawanan pleaded guilty to disposing off the murder evidence and their sentence of seven years in prison each.  

Suresh, 28, and Sarawanan, 21, are now serving a 20-year term in the Sungai Udang Prison in Malacca after the Court of Appeal not only dismissed their appeal against the High Court decision but also increased their sentence.  

Pathmanabhan, Thilaiyalagan, Matan and Kathavarayan were ordered to enter their defence on charges 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 Ladang Gadong, Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat in Banting between 8.30 and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.

 

- Bernama