The house in Bukit Damansara where Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu is believed to have gone to before she disappeared. As she was being bundled into a car, Ms Shaariibuu sent out one last desperate SMS to her sister. I'm being taken away, she said. Nineteen days later, Malaysian police found remains of a body believed to be hers near the Puncak Alam dam, near Kuala Lumpur. It had been blown up with explosives. |
The defence in the murder trial of Altantuya Shaariibuu raised questions on whether the jewellery belonging to the Mongolian woman was found at the flat of the accused Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar or another house since there were two versions of the police reports with varying addresses.
The police reports were lodged by ASP Zulkarnain Samsudin, 34, from the Major Crime Department, D9 at the Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent Headquarters on the finding of the jewellery at Sirul Azhar's house after he and his team returned from inspecting Sirul Azhar's flat at no 5-3-7, at Jalan Camar, 4/1 Gugusan Semarak, Section 4, Kota Damansara, Selangor on Nov 7 last year.
Counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, who represented Sirul Azhar, produced to the court a copy of a version of the police report with Zulkarnain's signature on it which stated the address of the house where the police went to inspect was 5-2-4.
More shocking was when the prosecution and lawyers representing the other accused, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, did not have the copy of the report with the 5-2-4 address.
High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin then ordered that they be given copies of the report.
When questioned by Kamarul Hisham, Zulkarnain, who is the 23rd prosecution witness, denied that he and his team went to another house instead of the house at the address 5-3-7.
However, Zulkarnain, admitted that after returning from inspecting Sirul Azhar's house he did lodge a report on the finding of the jewellery and wrote in the report the address of the house where the inspection was conducted as 5-2-4.
Zulkarnain then clarified to the court that he had made a mistake in the police report by writing the address 5-2-4 based on a bill or letter (he could not remember which one) which he had taken from Sirul Azhar's house.
Kamarul: This is your report with the address 5-2-4?
Zulkarnain: True.
Kamarul: Referring to the report. What caused you to make that mistake 5-2-4?
Zulkarnain: At the house of the second accused (Sirul Azhar), I had taken several handphone bills, water or electricity bills or letters from the house. One of the bills that I took stated 5-2-4. I can't remember the bill or letter.
Kamarul: You did not check what other bills stated?
Zulkarnain: Other bills I can't remember.
Kamarul: You just picked the one that happened to be 5-2-4?
Zulkarnain: True.
Sirul Azhar, 36, and Azilah, 31, both from the Bukit Aman police Special Action Unit, are charged with murdering Altantuya, 28, at a location between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735, Mukim Bukit Raja, near Shah Alam, between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20 last year, while Abdul Razak, 47, a political analyst, is charged with abetting the two.
All three face the death sentence if convicted.
During the 31st day of hearing today, the defence also questioned Zulkarnain's testimony which said that Sirul Azhar was the one who disclosed and showed to the police where the jewellery belonging to Altantuya were kept.
At the last hearing, the court was told that the jewellery were found in the inside pocket of a black jacket belonging to Sirul Azhar in a cupboard in a bedroom of Sirul Azhar's two-bedroom flat.
Kamarul contended that Zulkarnain had made a proposal to Sirul Azhar that the police would help him (Sirul Azhar) if he (Sirul Azhar) agreed to follow the police and show as well as identify the jewellery belonging to Altantuya. However, Zulkarnain disagreed with Kamarul.
Zulkarnain also denied that he had asked Sirul Azhar to pose for the photographer by holding the black jacket and show the jewellery based on their previous agreement.
Zulkarnain also disagreed with Kamarul Hisham when it was put to him (Zulkarnain) that he had ordered Sirul Azhar to sit at a dining table at his (Sirul Azhar) flat while he and five other policemen entered Sirul Azhar's bedroom and closed the door for 10 to 15 minutes.
The witness also disagreed when put by Kamarul Hisham that a few minutes later, three policemen came out of Sirul Azhar's bedroom carrying a bag whose contents were unknown.
Zulkarnain denied that he then directed Sirul Azhar to go into the bedroom.
During the hearing on Friday (Aug 3) the defence had raised questions on the presence of two separate police reports by Zulkarnain which contained several differences, including the spelling of his (Zulkarnain) name and date of birth.
However, Zulkarnain had clarified to the court that there were two reports because he had amended several words after checking it for the second time on the same day.
