A High Court judge today refused to record the guilty pleas of seven Somalians charged with shooting at Malaysian navy commandos after counsel for the accused raised a discrepancy on the actual location of the incident in the Gulf of Aden on Oct 18, last year.

Justice Kamardin Hashim, who was scheduled to record the pleas, ordered that the matter be heard before another High Court judge, but no date was for the hearing.

“If you are disputing facts of the case at this stage, I won’t accept their pleas and you should advise your client to go for full trial,” Kamardin told counsel Edmund Bon who was representing one of three juveniles among the accused.  

He insisted that the court would not accept any “conditional” guilty plea since Edmund had contended that it would be an issue of law if the matter went up for appeal at the apex court.

Edmund had earlier informed the court that checks on the documents supplied to the defence by the prosecution especially on the location of the incident had revealed that the latitude and longitude stated in the charge was totally different from the location recorded in the log book of the ship as well as the Crime Scene Investigation report prepared by the police.

“When we double-checked the latitude and longitude, it showed the location was on land in India,” revealed Edmund.

Initially, the Somalians were charged under Section 3 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 which carries the mandatory death sentence, if convicted.

However, On Oct 8, the prosecution offered an alternative charge to the Somalians under Section 32(1)(a) of the same Act, which provides for imprisonment of up to 14 years or life, upon conviction.

The alternative charge was offered to them after a representation by the defence to strike out the (initial) charge) was rejected by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

‘Any guilty plea should be without dispute’

Deputy public prosecutor Yusaini Amir Abd Karim later told reporters that under Section 173 (b) of the Criminal Procedure Code that any guilty plea should be without any dispute by parties involved.

    

“The defence lawyer urged the court to record their objection on the fact stated in the charge and the judge had taken into consideration what was the requirement under the CPC to reject the plea,” explained Yusaimi.

Meanwhile, Edmund said in any criminal offences, the prosecution must show the actual location the offence was committed.  

He said even though it was the court which assigned the case to him, as an officer of court, he was duty bound in ensuring justice to all, whether they were Malaysians or foreigners.

On Jan 20 last year, the Royal Malaysian Navy commandos were delivering aid to MT Bunga Laurel during a rescue operation when their vessel was attacked by the accused who were armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols.

- Bernama