SHAH ALAM: The murder trial of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three others at the High Court here was yesterday told that the first defendant, N Pathmanabhan had bought the farm, Ladang Gadong, in Banting, said to be the location of the murder of the four individuals, because he wanted to run a chicken and dog breeding business.
The fourth accused, R Kathavarayan, 32, said he was informed about the matter by Pathmanabhan while he was helping the former lawyer in supervising renovation work at the latter’s new office in Banting in 2009.
“After he (Pathmanabhan) told me that he bought the farm to run a business, I got interested to work with him.
“Initially, Pathmanabhan was planning to run a chicken and dog breeding business, but after a while, we started to breed other livestock as well,” he said during examination-in-chief by his counsel Ravi Nekoo.
Kathavarayan, together Pathmanabhan, 43, T Thilaiyalagan, 21, and R Matan, 22, were ordered to enter their defence on charges of murdering Sosilawati, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44. — Bernama