A chemist told the High Court here today that he did not carry out DNA analysis on four bone specimens collected at the place where Altantuya Shaariibuu was allegedly murdered because he was informed that they belonged to one body.
The four bone specimens were labelled spine, lumbar, pelvic and humerus.
J. Primulapathi, 54, head of forensic division at Petaling Jaya Chemistry Department told the High Court that he did not carry out DNA analysis on four bone specimens collected at the place where Altantuya Shaariibuu was allegedly murdered (above) because he was informed that they belonged to one body.
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J. Primulapathi, 54, who is the Petaling Jaya Chemistry Department’s head of forensic division, said he relied on the police about that fact and verified it with Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s forensic pathologist, Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood, who had examined the specimens before they were handed over to the Chemistry Department.
“I had a talk with him and he told me all these bones belonged to one body from his examination,” he said on the 48th day of trial for the murder of the 28-year-old Mongolian woman.
Two policemen from the Special Action Squad — C/Insp Azilah Hadri, 31, and Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, — are charged with the murder while political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 47, is alleged to have abetted them.
The alleged offence took place in a jungle in Mukim Bukit Raja here between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20 last year.
Yesterday, the defence contended that the bone fragments could have been from different sources as Primulapathi had decided to conduct analysis only on pieces of skull bone which were also found at the scene.
In previous preceedings, the chemist testified that the skull bone came from the biological daugther of Setev Shaariibuu and Altentsetseg Sanjaa — the parents of the victim.
In re-examination conducted by DPP Noorin Badaruddin, Primulapathi said he was only able to obtain DNA profiles from a piece of tissue and a piece of bone but was unable to get any from six other tissue samples and two bone fragments.
He also dismissed the defence’s suggestion of a mix up or contamination in the exhibits and said that his team was the only one analysing the exhibits on this case but there were other chemists analysing different exhibits for other cases in different parts of the laboratory then.
Primulapathi was also asked to explain on a probable cause of a scenario where a person’s DNA profile was found on a jacket belonging to another as the court was earlier told that a DNA profile found inside Sirul Azhar’s black jacket matched that of Altantuya and not Sirul Azhar’s.
“Probably, I would say the second person whose DNA was found in the jacket had either handled or worn the jacket.The fact that I could not find the DNA profile of the owner of the jacket could indicate that the jacket had been washed or cleaned prior to being handled by the second person,” he said.
Meanwhile, the prosecution also called another chemist to the stand. He was Shaari Desa, 40, the firearms unit head of the Petaling Jaya Chemistry Department’s forensic division.
He said he received 70 case items from investigating officer ASP Tonny Lunggan on Nov 17 last year analysis.
At this point, Noorin applied for the items to be produced in court and marked as exhibits after the Aidilfitri celebration.
Justice Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin agreed and set Oct 22 for the trial to continue.
