No fingerprints were found in Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar’s sport utility vehicle (SUV), the High Court here heard today.
Fingerprint inspection, however, was not carried on the outer surface of the bluish Suzuki 1300 or on the slippers found in the vehicle.
The slippers had “Heat Adswad” written on them.
Chemistry division head of the police’s forensic laboratory in Cheras, Supt Soo Mee Tong, 51, told the court this when cross examined by Sirul’s lawyer, Hasnal Redzua Merican.
Sirul, 36, and another Special Action Squad operative C/Insp Azilah Hadri, 31, are alleged to have murdered Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu, 28, in a jungle in Mukim Bukit Raja here in October last year.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 47, is charged with abetting them.
Soo, who is the 42nd prosecution witness, said no fingerprints were found in the SUV despite using the super glue fuming method which was the best way to detect fingerprints on smooth surfaces like glasses or painted metals.
Asked whether swab tests were conducted to find DNA on the slippers, Soo said: “No. Only a spot test on the blood.”
The Chemistry Department would carry out further inspections to determine whether there was DNA on the slippers, he said. The court was told in previous proceedings that traces of blood were found on the slippers.
Replying to counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, who also represented Sirul, Soo said he did not know of anyone who had handled or worn the slippers because no fingerprint or DNA tests were conducted on them.
Earlier, Soo said the SUV had been removed from its original location.
Therefore, it was difficult for him to make an estimation how many people had used the vehicle or whether items in it had been moved, he said.
More accurate findings could be reached if the examination was carried out at the scene before it had been infiltrated by anyone else, he said.
Replying to Azilah’s lawyer, Hazman Ahmad, Soo said he conducted the examination selectively and not comprehensively.
He also admitted that tests were not conducted on the shirts found in the SUV one by one because he believed they were Sirul’s.
Asked whether the shirts probably belonged to someone else and the SUV had been used by other people, Soo said: “I disagree”.
Hazman then questioned how Soo could dismiss his suggestion about the clothes being worn by someone else without conducting tests on them.
Soo said: “It is impossible to leave DNA traces because shirts are not held tightly.
Hazman also suggested that if the shirts were sent for DNA tests, the results would probably show that they did not belong to the SUV owner.
Soo replied: “It does not necessarily show the absence of the vehicle owner.
It would only show that the shirts were someone else’s.”
In re-examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor Hanim Rashid, Soo said that after retrieving 13 case items — which included the slippers, a long strand of hair, a newspaper with traces of blood and a bullet shell — from the SUV, he had used the super glue fuming method on all surfaces inside the vehicle.
Fingerprints were also not found on other items, he said.
“According to my experience, the shirts found in the car belong to the car owner because they were folded and neatly stacked,” he said.
Asked why he conducted the examination selectively, Soo said: “If all the items were to be sent to the Chemistry Department, we had to call many lorries to transport them.
The storage area is also limited.”
The trial before Justice Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin continues tomorrow.
After Soo, a doctor was supposed to take the witness stand this afternoon but the judge, who can write using both hands, complained of “finger cramps due to writing too much” throughout the six-hour proceding today.
