Sodomy II: Sperm sample not taken properly, says expert

(THE STAR) – A DNA expert told the High Court yesterday that sperm samples taken from Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s rectum had not been properly extracted by a chemist.

Dr Brian Leslie McDonald said the differential extraction process (DEP) carried out by the chemist was not properly conducted due to the presence of Mohd Saiful’s DNA.

Describing the chemist’s findings as speculative, he said a detailed process was necessary to ensure the sperm was isolated from other cells belonging to the complainant.

He said that in order to get the proper results, the samples had “to be cleaned a couple of times.”

Dr McDonald pointed out that the report prepared by the chemist did not indicate where the swabs came from.

He said doctors at Hospital Kuala Lumpur did not use the same numbering system for the samples as used by the chemist.

“We have to assume where the swabs came from as this was not reflected in the chemist’s report,” said Dr McDonald.

He said samples must be verified whether they came from the anal and rectum areas in sodomy cases.

Giving his opinion on the results of the samples taken from Mohd Saiful, Dr McDonald said the two swabs – taken from Mohd Saiful’s high rectum and one from the low rectum – showed no degradation despite being examined after more than 90 hours.

“The evidence found was pristine as there was no evidence of degradation, and this is inconsistent with its history.” he said.

He explained that in the low rectum swab, there was a mixture of two samples, which included Male Y.

“The second high rectal swab had a mixture of Male Y and the complainant,” he said, adding that the “dominance is by the complainant.”

“And the one from the low rectal was inconclusive,” said Dr McDonald.

On Thursday, Dr McDonald said the samples should have been smeared onto a glass slide, air-dried and immediately frozen at -20C to stop the growth of bacteria from destroying the sperm cells.

The hearing was adjourned to Sept 19.