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Defence seeks to examine police reports

Saturday, 28 January 2012 08:47am

©The New Straits Times (Used by permission)

SHAH ALAM: The judge in the Banting murder trial will decide on Monday on an application by the defence to cross-examine an interrogating officer on his police reports.

Judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir yesterday heard submissions by the defence and prosecution.

Counsel Gurbachan Singh submitted that he made the application under Section 145 of the Evidence Act 1950, which states that a witness may be cross-examined on previous statements made by him.

He said the words "previous statements" as stated in the section includes police reports.

"Police reports may be used to show inconsistency of a witness' evidence in court."

The defence is seeking to cross-examine Chief Inspector N. Govindan on several police reports he had lodged.

Deputy public prosecutor Saiful Edris Zainuddin submitted that police reports were inadmissible under the section.

Later, a doctor who was involved in obtaining blood samples of the victim's family members was called to the stand.

Dr Cheah Phee Keng, 35, who was on duty at Kuala Lumpur Hospital's Emergency Department on Sept 14, 2010, said he received an application by a police officer to take blood samples from four women for DNA testing.

He was testifying at the trial of lawyer N. Pathmanabhan, 41, and his farm hands T. Thilaiyalagan, 19; R. Matan, 20; and R. Kathavarayan, 30, who are charged with the murders of Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya, 47; driver Kamaruddin Shansuddin, 44; Noorhisham Mohamad, 38; and Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, at a farm in Tanjung Sepat, Banting, on Aug 30, 2010.

Dr Cheah said the four women were Satinah Mokhtar (Noorhisham's mother), Zainab Ahmad (Kamaruddin's mother), Radiyah Abdul Karim (Ahmad Kamil's sister) and Erni Erinawati Sofiah Buhari (Sosilawati's daughter).

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