Altantuya murder: Sirul, Azilah walk free
Court of Appeal said that the High Court judge failed to establish facts and the prosecution did not produce a key material witness.
K. Pragalath, FMT
In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal released two former policemen who were sentenced to death by the High Court for murdering Mongolian national, Altantuya Shaariibuu.
“There are gaps in the evidence submitted and there is no sufficient evidence that links the accused to the crime as required under Section 27 of the Police Act,” judge Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said while reading the gist of the judgment.
“The learned High Court judge also failed to establish the links the jewellery found on Altantuya to the two accused,” she said.
The other judges presiding the case were Apandi Ali and Linton Albert.
Tengku Maimun added that the High Court judge also failed to establish the credibility of the prosecution witnesses. The judges also found that the High Court failed to establish a common intent on the part of the defendants.
In a 4-page summary judgment, the court ruled that the High Court judge had misdirected himself in convicting them.
Justice Tengku Maimun, who read out the judgment, said the trial judge had misdirected himself by way of non-direction in failing to consider the station diary and in failing to make a finding whether the defence had cast a reasonable doubt on the prosecutions’s case that Azilah who was the first accused in the case, was at the scene of the crime.
Justice Tengku Maimun said on Azilah Hadri’s defence alibi, the court did not find anywhere in the trial judge’s grounds of judgment that he had considered whether the station diary showed or tend to show that Azilah’s presence at Bukit Aman at the material time and he could not be or was unlikely to be at the crime scene.
“Looking at the whole circumstances of this case, it is our judgment that the cumulative effect of the non-directions by the learned trial judge rendered the conviction of the appellants unsafe. We, unanimously allow both appeals,” said Justice Tengku Maimun.
Ex-Special Action Unit personnel Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar and Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri were arrested seven years ago for Altantuya’s murder. The courtroom was silent today when the judge delivered the judgment while Azilah, 34, and Sirul Azhar, 39, looked calm after the verdict.
Sirul and Azilah were found guilty and sentenced to death in 2009 for murdering Altantuya, in Shah Alam in October 2006.
Two months ago the Court of Appeal had allowed the duo to appeal against the sentencing.
Sirul’s lawyer Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin questioned whether the High Court was influenced by “adverse publicity” and “real and possible danger” which could have influenced the decision which was prejudicial against Sirul.
Kamarul Hisham also had applied to include additional documents in their appeal.
The third accused in this case – former political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda – who was charged for abetting with the duo was acquitted on Oct 31, 2008 , due to the prosecution’s failure to establish a prima facie case.
Material witness
Commenting on the judgment, Azilah’s lawyer Hazman Ahmad was glad that the court accepted the defence’s argument.
“There were many issues that we raised in the High Court that were not addressed.
“For example. the Celcom call log did not prove that my client was at the murder scene. We also had an alibi that my client was at Bukit Aman at the time of the murder.
He added that there was no proof that indicated that Altantuya was murdered using C4 explosives.
Kamarul Hisham, meanwhile, pointed out that the prosecution’s failure to call DSP Musa Safri was the prosecution’s undoing.
“The calling of DSP Musa Safri could have explained a lot of issues. It affected the prosecution’s case.
Azilah’s fiancee, Nor Azilah Baharudin, 35, who was met outside the courtroom was happy with the verdict.
“It has been seven years. We knew he would be released,” said the fiancee who works as an operations manager in a private company.
Meanwhile, Deputy Solicitor General Tun Majid Tun Hamzah confirmed that the prosecution team would be appealing against the acquittal.
