A court interpreter told the High Court in the murder trial of cosmetic millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three others, that she met the fourth accused in the case, R Kathavarayan, at the court’s premises on Jan 7 after being instructed to translate a statutory declaration (SD) to him in Tamil.

B Tharini, 23, an interpreter with the civil magistrate’s court in Shah Alam, told the court in Shah Alam today that at around 10am on Jan 7, she was instructed by a magistrate to go the remand room of the Shah Alam High Court complex for an assignment which required a Tamil interpreter.

The 21st defence witness, however, said she was not told who needed  interpretation services.

“I went to the remand room and when I was there, Hasshahari (lawyer Hasshahari Johari Mawi) came in together with Kathavarayan who I recognised was one of the accused in an ongoing trial at the Shah Alam High Court. Two policemen were with them.

“Hasshahari then handed to me a 10-page SD in Bahasa Malaysia and asked me to translate it into Tamil which I did,” she said during examination-in-chief by lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon, who is acting for N Pathmanabhan, the first accused.

Pathmanabhan, 43, T Thilaiyalagan, 21, Matan, 22, and Kathavarayan, 33, are alleged to have murdered Sosilawati, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44, at a farm, Ladang Gadong, at Lot 2001 in Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.

All four have been charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the mandatory death sentence, if convicted.

Tharini said after translating the SD to Kathavarayan, she asked him to confirm the contents of the SD, which he did before attesting to it by putting down his signature.

“I also signed the SD and so did a Commissioner of Oaths who was also present. I then left the remand room and went back to do my normal duties,” she said.

‘No records Kathavarayan brought out of prison’

Prior to this, during the trial proceedings, questions had arisen because there were no records showing Kathavarayan had been brought out of the Sungai Buloh Prison on Jan 7.

Sungai Buloh Prison director, deputy commissioner Narander Singh when testifying in court had said that based on the prison’s records, Kathavarayan was never brought out of the prison on that day and instead was at the prison’s clinic.

Manjeet Singh had then questioned the director why the prison had failed to record the movements of Kathavarayan on Jan 7 when in fact the court had issued an order to produce (OTP) him in court so that he could meet his lawyer, Hasshahari, at the court on that date.

Kathavarayan in his testimony earlier had said that he had met Hasshahari at the court on Jan 7 in the presence of two court officials but could not remember  who they were.

The hearing before Judge Akhtar Tahir continues tomorrow.

- Bernama