'We had no motive to kill Altantuya'

Chief inspector Azilah Hadri ended his testimony on the witness stand today by testifying he and second accused corporal Sirul Azhar Umar had no motive to kill the Mongolian national, Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Azilah, 32, who is the first accused, said this in his testimony after being asked by counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin representing Sirul Azhar on what was the motive if there was any in murdering Altantuya.

“I did not do anything as it seemed so stupid (in murdering her). I am a policeman and there is no reason or motive to do it,” the chief inspector said.

The police officer also told the court there was no directive from political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda to hurt the Mongolian, and that whatever instructions given by Abdul Razak was communicated to him only and not to Sirul.

“This was because Abdul Razak did not know Sirul Azhar, and likewise the corporal did not know the political analyst. Whatever instructions was communicated by Abdul Razak to me and not to Sirul,” said the police officer.

Azilah agreed with Kamarul that since, there was no communication between Abdul Razak and Sirul, there was no motive for the corporal to kill Altantuya.

He testified that he had helped Abdul Razak on instruction and request from the deputy prime minister's aide-de-camp deputy superintendent Musa Safri.

Replying to questions from Hasnal Rezua Merican who was assisting Kamarul, Azilah said he pulled Sirul Azhar in because he was afraid he could not do some of the task required by Abdul Razak when he was on duty in escorting VVIPs or VIPs.

Briefed Sirul on his task

The task as he described included patrolling Abdul Razak's Bukit Damansara home, ensuring a police box is put up at the house and introducing the political analyst to an officer at the Brickfields police station.

Azilah explained further that his relationship with Sirul Azhar (pic,centre) was that between an officer and his subordinate and that at times he would instruct the corporal to perform certain task in the line of duty.

The chief inspector described Sirul Azhar as a good policeman and that was why he roped in the corporal to help Abdul Razak if he was away on duty.

“I briefed Sirul on what was required for him to do and also told him that he (Azilah) had been instructed by Musa to assist in looking after Abdul Razak," the police officer said.

Azilah and Sirul Azhar, 37, are both jointly charged with murdering Altantuya, 28, at a location between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 in Mukim Bukit Raja, Selangor between 10am on Oct 19, 2006 and 1am the following day.

Azilah also testified in court that he received telephone calls and missed calls from Musa and Abdul Razak after Oct 20, 2006.

“I remember there were several calls made by Abdul Razak and Musa on Oct 21, 2006, but I could not remember the exact times," he said.

Kamarul (pic) then showed Abdul Razak's affidavit, where it stated he wanted to find out from Musa on what was the outcome of Azilah's meeting with Altantuya. However, Azilah said he cannot recall what the phone conversations were about.

Altogether there were 10 missed calls or calls made by Abdul Razak to Azilah, or vice versa and three calls from Musa on that day.

Saw burnt marks at the scene

However, Azilah did not go into details on what was the content of the conversation between him and Abdul Razak and between him and Musa as he was not asked any questions.

Earlier when replying to questions from DPP Tun Majid Tun Hamzah who showed pictures of the crime scene, Azilah disagreed he saw bone fragments when he travelled there on Oct 26, 2006.

"I did not show directions to the scene of the crime to Superintendent Koh Fei Chow but was brought there.”

I saw burnt marks at the scene but this (showing the pictures) was not the place where I was led by the police. This was somewhere else,” said the chief inspector, adding he surrendered himself at the Brickfields police station that same day.

He also denied Tun Majid's suggestions that what he had testified over the past four days were lies and fabrications.

After re-examination by Azilah's counsel Hazman Ahmad (pic), High Court judge Mohd Zaki Md Yasin grilled the accused’s testimony over him following Sirul Azhar from the political analyst home in Bukit Damansara to Bukit Aman.

"I did not follow Sirul Azhar, he happened to be in front of my vehicle with Altantuya on board my Proton Wira as I was headed to Bukit Aman," he said, adding he thought Sirul Azhar could have headed home as the corporal had finished assisting him at Abdul Razak's house.

Hazman later told the court that he would not be calling anymore defence witness following Azilah's testimony.

More time needed to prepare statement

Kamarul Hisham also informed Mohd Zaki that Sirul Azhar had chosen to testify from the dock and he would need a couple of days for him to prepare his client's statement.

"I have not been able to see him to prepare a statement as I need a full two days to prepare it," he said.

Unlike giving testimonies from the witness stand, an accused testifying from the dock cannot be cross-examined by the prosecution. Hence, under the law, such evidence carried a lesser weight compared to evidence given from the witness stand.

MAS cabin worker cleaner, Ahmad Najib Aris, who was accused of murdering and raping information technology analyst, Canny Ong, had also chosen to testify from the dock during the trial in 2004. As a result, his testimony was rejected by the court and he had been found guilty of the crime.

Kamarul also told the court that he would make an application for the prosecution to hand in Musa's caution statement, and also whatever data concerning the exchange of SMS between Abdul Razak, Azilah and Musa.

"Such documents are not made available to us and hence, we would like to have a look at them before Sirul Azhar gave his testimony," he said.

The counsel said he was prepared to submit on the matter tomorrow to seek the documents. Mohd Zaki then allowed the hearing of the application tomorrow.