~penarik beca (2)

The Star (17/2/09): Unit Tindakan Khas operative Kpl Sirul Azhar Umar has asked the High Court here to acquit him of the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Alternatively, Kpl Sirul, 36, wants the court to declare a mistrial and order a retrial, including for political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, who had been acquitted without his defence being called of abetment in her murder.

Kpl Sirul’s counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin submitted before High Court Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin yesterday that his client was only a patsy (puppet) for a crime committed by others.

He said the prosecution did not provide complete evidence on Altantuya’s murder, but just wanted the court to believe that Kpl Sirul was involved in her murder and had disposed of all physical evidence later.

Kamarul, submitting that Kpl Sirul had no motive to murder Altantuya, said there should be a retrial as a material witness, DSP Musa Mohd Safri, a minister’s aide-de-camp, was not called to give evidence in the trial.

“The prosecution had thought DSP Musa a probative witness, and he could have provided evidence over the guilt of the three accused persons,” he said.

He said DSP Musa was important to unfolding the murder narration.

“It is a failure of statutory duty, and Your Lordship has the power under common law to strike out the case on grounds of abuse of process,” he argued.

He said it was also the court’s duty to decide if the witness was a material witness or not.

“If DSP Musa were to collaborate the story of Razak in full as in his (Razak’s) affidavit, he will be a collaborative witness.

“If DSP Musa were to take right of defence of superior orders, we could have challenged him,” he argued.

He said the defence had been deprived of the right to cross-examine DSP Musa for the purpose of showing inconsistency of evidence.

Kamarul also highlighted the constant communications between Razak and DSP Musa in the form of text messages, which only the senior police officer could shed light on.

“There were 11 SMSes on Oct 17 alone. Who can give an explanation to the SMSes? There must have been communication between Razak and DSP Musa prior to the SMSes being sent,” he argued.

Lawyer Datuk Hazman Ahmad, for C/Insp Azilah, submitted that his client had no intention to kill Altantuya, and that there was no eyewitness or DNA evidence to link him to the murder.

“There is no evidence to say that Azilah was ordered by Razak to commit the murder,” he said.

Submissions continue today.