|
 • NST
Reports - Altantuya Murder Trial: ‘Victim checked in at 2am’
©The Star
(Used by permission)
by Chelsea L.Y. Ng and Cecil Fung
• Hotel’s CCTV shows figures of two men
SHAH ALAM: It was like the premiere of the latest Harry Potter film where
bags were searched for recording devices.
Those who attended the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial yesterday were also
asked to go through the search process as the court was “screening” the highly
anticipated Hotel Malaya closed-circuit television footage.
But what transpired left everyone high and dry. The footage could not be shown
in its original form as the hardware was incompatible.
Everyone, including the prosecution, only realised this when the first tape
dated Oct 18 last year was loaded into the CCTV system that DPP Tun Abd Majid
Tun Hamzah said took two days to source for.
Initially, a police sergeant from the forensics department was supposed to
operate the CCTV system but he ran into difficulties and the prosecution asked
for a short break.
Some 20 minutes later, the prosecutor asked the witness himself, Hotel Malaya
operations manager Jimmy Loo Mow Chan, 50, to work the system.
But as the first tape was played, all that could be seen on the 21-inch
television set facing the public gallery was choppy still images.
After 20 more minutes without any success, Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin asked Loo
if it was possible to bring the hotel’s CCTV system.
“It’s out of order. We are currently not recording anything on our CCTV system,”
Loo replied.
After a long silence, DPP Manoj Kurup suggested that a compatible system be
sourced. Justice Mohd Zaki then proposed that other witnesses be called to
testify first.
Just before breaking for lunch, DPP Tun Abd Majid emphasised that the court had
to view the footage in its original form because it was the only way to be sure
of what the people caught in the footage were really doing.
He asked Loo if the hotel was getting a replacement CCTV system, to which the
witness replied: “It will definitely be a new model.”
Loo also said the hotel CCTV system could not zoom in on the footage.
After lunch, the prosecution was given some assistance when TV3 volunteered its
own system for use while Bernama TV offered its technical expertise.
But after about 45 minutes, the prosecution gave up the attempt and informed the
court that it was looking at the option of repairing the existing CCTV system at
the hotel and contacting the supplier.
The proceedings then continued with Loo’s testimony.
After that, DPP Manoj made another request for a short break, saying the
“television network people” wanted another shot at setting up their CCTV system
as they had been “practising outside (the courtroom).”
This was also unsuccessful.
Just before the proceedings concluded for the day, DPP Tun Abd Majid informed
the court that a new supplier had been engaged to set up another CCTV system
tomorrow.
The trial continues today.
Hotel’s CCTV shows figures of two men
THE still images from a closed-circuit television system at Hotel Malaya where
Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu stayed before she went missing reveal the figures
of two men.
The hotel’s operations manager Jimmy Loo Mow Chan confirmed that the shots were
captured about 5pm on Oct 18, last year, one day before the murder victim went
missing.
The two men – one stout-looking with a receding hairline and wearing a yellow
T-shirt, the other lean with longer hair and wearing a white short-sleeved shirt
– were featured at the main lobby area, the lobby lifts and the lifts area on
the seventh floor.
The first still showed the man in white standing just outside the coffeehouse at
the lobby while the man in yellow was heading towards the “information box”
where the hotel kept its brochures.
In the few scenes, the two men were seen together at the information box area
before they walked towards the lobby lifts and then entered a lift.
Another still showed them facing each other on the seventh floor just outside
the lifts. They were then pictured back at the lobby looking as if they were
leaving through the hotel’s main entrance.
All these were captured between 4.54pm and 5pm that day.
Loo and his front office assistant N. Haridharan, 22, later confirmed in their
testimonies that Altantuya had checked into a room on the eighth floor when she
arrived at the hotel at 2am on Oct 9 last year.
They also said that she had changed rooms twice but all the rooms were on the
eighth floor.
Loo, 50, said that he had on Nov 10, last year handed over three videotapes
containing the footages and 20 sheets of guest folios to the police.
The folios, he said, were for charges made to Altantuya during her stay at the
hotel.
“The folios contain charges for the hotel guest such as charges for the room,
telephone and laundry as well as coffeehouse bills.
“They will also reflect change of rooms,” Loo said, adding that Altantuya had
initially been assigned to Room 817 when she first checked in on Oct 9.
He said Altantuya moved into Room 801 later the same day and Room 821 on Oct 14,
last year.
Asked why he had testified last week that one of the photographs of the still
footage was captured on the eighth floor instead of the seventh floor like what
he said yesterday, Loo said that was what he thought when the police came to
take the photographs in May.
 |
News 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Jurisk! Sept 2010
Dialogue with BC & KLRCA - Powerpoint Presentation
