Sodomy II: Court to rule on Nov 22 if Anwar can get medical notes
(The Star) – The High Court has fixed Nov 22 to rule on Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s application for access to the Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) medical notes, and to challenge the admissibility of a toxicology report, in his ongoing sodomy trial.
On his application for the hospital’s medical notes, Anwar’s lead counsel Karpal Singh referred to the Federal Court’s decision that the defence could apply for documents during the course of a trial.
“The Federal Court had ruled that the defence was not entitled to the documents during the pre-trial of this case.”
“However, the apex court ruled that we could apply for the documents in the course of a trial,” Karpal submitted Friday.
He added that the notes provided crucial information as it was the basis for the medical report, and the the defence had a hunch that the notes contradicted his statement in court.
On the application challenging the admisibility of the toxicology report, which was attached to the chemist report, Karpal argued that it was not admissible as it was never served on the defence.
This application came about when the defence questioned HKL general surgeon Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim on the toxicology report, which was mentioned in his medical report, and later realised that the defence had not been supplied with it.
Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, however, countered Karpal’s submissions by saying that at this point, it was still the prosecution’s case and they had the right of deciding what evidence they wanted to tender.
“It is not yet the defence’s case,” he said, referring to the medical notes.
He also argued that it was for the witness himself to ask to refer to his notes to refresh his memory, and not for Karpal to push for it.
“The defence cannot act on hunch alone, they must show material contradiction and discrepancy to justify their applications,” he said.
Anwar, 63, has claimed trail to sodomising Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, his former personal aide, at the Desa Damansara Condominium in Bukit Damansara here on June 26, 2008.
