Fr Paulino’s case postponed to Dec 2
(Herald Malaysia Online) – The trial of Fr Paulino was scheduled for three days from November 11.
On the first day of trial, Francis Pereira, counsel for Fr Paulino brought to the attention of the presiding judge Puan Balqis Aini that an application has been filed by them on behalf of Fr Paulino to recuse (disqualify) her from hearing the matter on grounds of judicial biasness.
A copy of the application and the affidavit outlining the grounds was also served on the prosecution. Counsel also informed the judge that it is imperative for the court to hear and decide on the application pending before Her Honour before the trial can be proceeded with as the issues raised in the application are important in the interest of justice.
Thereafter Mr Gobind Singh, the counsel for the members of Parliament and Selangor State Assemblyman also sought an adjournment as he needed time to obtain instructions from all other accused who are not represented. The Selangor Bar Committee would be sending a legal team to assist in the defence of this case.
The prosecution team led by Cik Noorin Badaruddin did not object to the adjournment and was also of the opinion that the application for recusal ought to be heard first and that they wish to file an affidavit in reply outlining their reasons to oppose.
The Honourable Judge on hearing parties agreed to adjourn the trial and vacated all three days fixed. The matter is now fixed for mention on Dec 2 for affidavits on the recusal application to be finalised and for the issue of legal representation of all the unrepresented accused to be resolved.
