Azilah testifies in court on death of loan shark

(NST) Former police chief inspector Azilah Hadri, convicted of murdering Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, made an appearance at the Sessions Court here today to testify in a culpable homicide case which he investigated.

Azilah, 33, who was clad in a red and white prison uniform, was heavily escorted by prison wardens.

This time he was not prepared with his usual ‘ninja-style’ cover which he would use to wrap his face to avoid his picture being taken by Press photographers.

Instead, he was surprised when he saw the media.

“How did you guys know (about his trial)?” he asked, smiling at reporters as he entered the courtroom, while holding a book entitled “Unquiet” written by John Connolly.

Azilah was there to testify against two men – Roslan Abd Rahim, 52, and Arizan Suparman, 50 – who were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder of Tan Chaw Pang, 39, an illegal money lender (Ah Long), using a blunt object.

Roslan, a mechanic, and Arizan, a businessman, were alleged to have committed the offence with 18 others still at large, at Kampung Sungai Merab Luar in Dengkil at 1pm on Feb 21, 2002.

Azilah, who was the investigating officer in Sepang at that time, told the court that the two accused may not have been involved in committing the offence and that the victim, who was an Ah Long, may have had a lot of enemies.

He said he could not identify the two accused and that no weapons were given to him during his investigation.

He also said he did not go to the crime scene.

“During my investigation, I only attended the postmortem,” said Azilah.

“When I asked the arresting officers how many suspects were taken in, they said there were only two men and told me to leave the others alone.”

After the trial, upon learning the presence of the media, Azilah used his book to cover his face as he was quickly escorted back into a van to be taken back to prison.

DPP Siti Syuhada Alwi prosecuted while Roslan and Arizan are represented by counsel Sazali Sulaiman and P. Visnuvarman, respectively.

Hearing continues before judge Datin Anita Harun on June 9.

Azilah was the centre of attention when he and former police corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 37, were convicted and sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court on April 9 for the murder of Altantuya. Her body was blown up with explosives in a secondary jungle in Puncak Alam in October 2006.

Both have filed an appeal against their conviction and sentence.