The Malaysian Insider – 2 hours 45 minutes ago
Putrajaya's appeal against the acquittal of two policemen for the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu (pic) started today in the Federal Court with government prosecutor Datuk Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah submitting that one of those accused of the murder, chief inspector Azilah Hadri, had failed to produce any witnesses for his alibi.
Tun Abdul Majid said that Azilah's alibi was that at the time of the crime, he had gone to Wangsa Maju and later went back to Jalan Duta.
He said the Court of Appeal's decision in acquitting the two accused was wrong as Azilah did not call his witness to support his alibi and therefore, the onus should be on the defence to prove it and not the prosecution.
Tun Abdul Majid also said that the High Court had earlier found that the defence by Azilah and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were mere denials and they had failed to raise any doubt to the prosecution's case.
The prosecutor also said that the discovery of the spent cartridge inside Sirul Azhar's car and CCTV recordings show the deceased was on the way to Puncak Alam with the accused.
He said there was a slipper found inside Sirul's vehicle that showed a blood smudge and tests had shown it contained Altantuya's DNA.
"Sirul says he was made a scapegoat, but shows little evidence to support this," Tun Abdul Majid told the five-man Federal Court bench comprising Tun Arifin Zakaria, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop.
Both accused were at Hotel Malaya on October 18, 2006, where Altantuya stayed, Tun Abdul Majid said.
Azilah and Sirul had earlier managed to evade press photographers waiting for them by entering the court through the back door.
Since they were charged in 2006, Azilah and Sirul had never been photographed as the police had always brought them to court with their faces fully covered under a jacket.
Today however, as respondents in the government's appeal against their acquittal by the Court of Appeal, they should have walked in as free men through the main courtroom doors but were instead given back door access.
Majid also submitted that Azilah was the one who led the police to the crime scene where human remains, subsequently proven to be that of the deceased, was found.
He also said that the jewellery belonging to Altantuya was found in Sirul's jacket and that he had not denied that the jacket belonged to him.
"The fact is the jewellery belonged to the deceased. She was wearing it on the fateful night, how did it come into the second respondent's possession?" the government lawyer asked.
Majid also said that Altantuya's DNA was detected on the jewellery and on the inside of the jacket.
He also submitted that bloodstains with the deceased DNA were found on slippers in Sirul's car, yet no blood was found when the remains were discovered.
Majid further said that a track of phone calls made between Azilah and Abdul Razak Baginda showed him moving towards Puncak Alam at the time.
Abdul Razak was a close associate of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. The former political analyst became prominent in 2006 when he was charged with abetting the murder of Altantuya. He was acquitted in 2008 without his defence being called.
Appeal hearing continues tomorrow. – June 23, 2014.
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