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Hisyam leads legal team in bicycle tragedy appeal case
Hisyam Teh Poh Teik now heads the defence team of motorist Sam Ke Ting who is seeking to quash her guilty verdict as well as a six-year jail sentence and RM6,000 fine for reckless driving that killed eight teen cyclists in Johor in 2017.
The veteran lawyer of over four decades confirmed this to the media in relation to his client’s upcoming appeal set to be heard by the Court of Appeal on March 31.
Hisyam said that he would be leading counsel...
Hisyam Teh Poh Teik now heads the defence team of motorist Sam Ke Ting who is seeking to quash her guilty verdict as well as a six-year jail sentence and RM6,000 fine for reckless driving that killed eight teen cyclists in Johor in 2017.
The veteran lawyer of over four decades confirmed this to the media in relation to his client’s upcoming appeal set to be heard by the Court of Appeal on March 31.
Hisyam (above, left) said that he would be leading counsel for the appellant together with co-counsel Harvinderjit Singh.
Hisyam currently represents Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the deputy prime minister’s ongoing Yayasan Akalbudi corruption trial, and the Foreign Visa System (VLN) which saw Zahid being acquitted.
The lawyer has also previously represented former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak in the latter’s RM42 million SRC International corruption case appeal before the apex court last year.
Stay of execution
Sam’s appeal came up for case management before the Appellate Court registry earlier this morning, with Hisyam and co-counsel Muhammad Faizal Mokhtar representing Sam.
Deputy public prosecutor Noorhisyam Mohd Jaafar appeared for the prosecution who is the respondent in the matter.
Sam's lead counsel was previously veteran lawyer Gopal Sri Ram. However, the former federal court judge passed away on Jan 29.
On April 18 last year, the Court of Appeal granted her leave to commence with the appeal and allowed a stay of execution over the 27-year-old’s jail sentence pending disposal of her appeal.
The court also maintained her existing RM10,000 bail in one surety (from the Magistrate’s Court).
As the reckless driving case initially originated at the Magistrate’s Court rather than the Sessions Court, she needed to obtain leave from the Court of Appeal before she could proceed with the appeal.
On April 13 last year, the Johor Bahru High Court overturned her acquittal for reckless driving. Judge Abu Bakar Katar also denied an application by Sam’s lawyers for a stay of the sentence pending appeal.
Among the issues of law that the Court of Appeal will look into during a later hearing of the appeal proper is whether the accused's unsworn statement from the dock can be accepted as an explanation by the defence against the reckless driving charge.
During the defence stage of her case before the Magistrate's Court, Sam had chosen to give an unsworn statement from the dock.
If she had opted to take the witness stand and give evidence, the prosecution would have had the opportunity to cross-examine her over her version of events behind the accident.
Another issue of law before the Court of Appeal is whether Sam's car speed of 45.33kph on the day of the incident can be regarded as dangerous to those teenagers.
Eight teenagers killed
On Feb 18, 2017, eight teenagers died, two others were critically injured, and six more were slightly injured when the car Sam was driving rammed into them in the 3am incident.
Those who were killed in the incident were Mohamad Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14; Muhamad Shahrul Izzwan Azzuraimie, 14; Muhammad Firdauz Danish Mohd Azhar, 16; Fauzan Halmijan, 13; Mohamad Azhar Amir, 16; Muhammad Harith Iskandar Abdullah, 14; Muhammad Shahrul Nizam Marudin, 14; and Haizad Kasrin, 16.
In 2019, magistrate Siti Hajar Ali acquitted Sam without calling her to the stand after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case.
In her judgment, Siti Hajar said the court took into consideration several factors, namely that it was a dark, hilly, and winding road where the driver - who was not local to the area - could not foresee that there would be a group of cyclists on the road at 3am.
The magistrate added that the bicycle gang had put themselves in danger.
Siti Hajar said investigations found that Sam was not under the influence of alcohol, was not using her phone, and wore a seatbelt while driving, proving that the accused was driving responsibly and carefully.
Siti Hajar acquitted Sam again in 2021 when the High Court ordered the plaintiff to enter her defence. The magistrate said the prosecution had failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Then on April 13 last year, the High Court quashed this acquittal.
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