PUTRAJAYA: The four men charged with the Banting murders cannot call deputy public prosecutors (DPPs) Ishak Mohd Yusoff, Saiful Edris Zainuddin and Idham Abdul.Ghani to become witnesses in their ongoing trial.
This follows a Federal Court decision here yesterday to unanimously dismiss their appeal.
The four accused – former lawyer N Pathmanabhan, and three farm workers T Thilaiyalagan, R Matan and R Kathavarayan – were appealing against the decision of a Shah Alam High Court which had set aside the subpoenas issued on the three DPPs to appear as defence witnesses.
Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, chairing a five-member panel, said the High Court ruling to set aside the subpoenas was not appealable as it was made in the course of the trial.
He said the decision of the Court of Appeal to uphold the prosecution’s preliminary objection that the matter was not appealable, as it was made in the midst of the trial and did not finally dispose of the rights of the accused, was correct.
Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Datuk Ahmad Maarop, Datuk Hasan Lah and Datin Paduka Zaleha Zahari were the other four judges presiding on the panel.
The trial resumed at the Shah Alam High Court yesterday afternoon after being stalled since July this year.
The four had applied to have the three DPPs to appear as witnesses to expunge two exhibits presented by the latter at the end of the prosecution’s case in an attempt to discredit two farm workers, U Suresh and K Sarawanan, who were called as prosecution witnesses in the trial, but had allegedly turned hostile.
The two exhibits were notes of proceedings at the Telok Datok magistrates’ court where Suresh and Sarawanan pleaded guilty to a charge of disposing of evidence related to the murders and were sentenced to seven years’ jail each.
The three DPPs were also involved in the proceedings at the Telok Datok magistrates’ court.
Suresh, 28, and Sarawanan, 21, are now serving 20 years’ imprisonment in Sungai Udang Prison, Melaka, after the Court of Appeal, on Aug 24 last year, refused to grant them leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal against a High Court decision in enhancing their jail term.
The High Court set aside the subpoenas on July 23 this year.
On Sept 13, the Court of Appeal struck out the appeal by the four accused against the High Court ruling to set aside the subpoenas after it (the Court of Appeal) accepted the prosecution’s preliminary objection that the matter was not appealable.
Pathmanabhan, Thilaiyalagan, Matan and Kathavarayan, have been ordered to enter their defence on a charge of murdering cosmetics millionairess Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44.
They were accused of committing the murders at Ladang Gadong, Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat in Banting, Selangor, between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.They face the death sentence if convicted. — Bernama