SHAH ALAM, 4 Sept 2008: The prosecution in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case told the High Court today the police never forced Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar to show the jewellery belonging to the Mongolian woman at his house.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah said Sirul showed the jewellery voluntarily and had control over the items.
He said the pictures showing Sirul holding a jacket and pointing at the jewellery on the bed captured the accused’s spontaneous actions and were not on the instruction of ASP Zulkarnain Samsudin from the serious crime investigation division (D9) of the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters.
Tun Majid, who was making his submission at the end the prosecution case, also said two police officers from the same division, C/Insp Koh Fei Cheaw and Cpl Chiam Swee Guan, who were with the second accused in the room also gave the same testimonies. Both had stated that Sirul said, “These were hers” when the pictures were taken spontaneously.
He said the search for the jewellery at Sirul’s house would not have happened if the accused refused to give information throughout the investigation, and when the operation was conducted, Sirul showed the police the direction to his house.
C/Insp Azilah Hadri, 32, and Sirul, 36, are both Special Action Unit operatives who have been charged with murdering Altantuya, 28, between Lot 12843 and Lot 16735 at Mukim Bukit Raja between 10pm on 19 Oct 2006 and 1am the next day.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 48, is accused of abetting them.
Tun Majid said that with Sirul’s background as a police officer, surely he was familiar with the way the police investigate cases, and had said during the trial-within-a-trial that "police use various ways to obtain information".
"Based on the interrogation by Zulkarnain, it is stated that Sirul is not a person who can easily bow to pressure, threat, persuasion or promise as claimed to have been done by Zulkarnain on him," said Tun Majid.
The trial before Justice Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin continues on Monday. – Bernama
