Death – Obituary – Accident and Crime News : PUTRAJAYA (Dec 7): Lawyers representing two accused individuals who were found guilty of murdering deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais argued in the Court of Appeal on Thursday that there is no evidence to suggest their clients were involved in his death. They contended that the evidence only points to offenses of kidnapping or hiding evidence.
Amer Hamzah Arshad, the lawyer for S Nimalan, stated that his client’s conviction for murder by High Court judge Datuk Azman Abdullah, who has since been elevated to the appellate court, was unsafe. He emphasized that Nimalan’s role in the case was only to reveal the location where the barrel containing Kevin’s body was disposed of in a swamp in Subang Jaya. Amer Hamzah argued that Nimalan did not know the content of the barrel and was merely showing the dumping site. Therefore, he claimed that it cannot be inferred that Nimalan was involved in the murder since it remains undetermined how Kevin died, despite the cause of death being identified as asphyxiation.
Amer Hamzah further pointed out that the pathologist’s findings indicated that Kevin died before his body was placed in the barrel, as there were no signs of struggle. The pathologist also determined that the haematoma and contusion marks on the body did not cause Kevin’s death. Based on this, Amer Hamzah argued that the trial judge was mistaken in concluding that Nimalan was involved in the murder. He asserted that it was incumbent upon the prosecution to prove that Nimalan and others had committed acts that led to Kevin’s death, which had not been established.
In a separate submission, senior lawyer Kitson Foong, who represented money changer S Ravi Chandran, agreed that there was no evidence of common intention to prove his client’s involvement in the murder. Foong cited the testimony of G Gunasekaran, the 54th prosecution witness, who was initially charged with murder but later pleaded guilty to disposing of evidence. Foong argued that Ravi Chandran should be charged under Section 365 for kidnapping at most, as the prosecution failed to prove the common intention to commit murder.
The appeal hearing, presided over by a three-member bench led by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, and Datuk Azmi Arifin, is set to continue on Dec 14. Counsel Afifudin Afifi will then present Vishwanath’s appeal, followed by the prosecution’s reply, led by DPP Datuk Mohd Dusuki.
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