SHAH ALAM: The High Court murder trial of Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three other individuals here yesterday was shocked by the fourth accused’s claim of seeing the cosmetics millionairess in a restaurant at Tanjung Sepat, Banting, eight days after the murders were said to have happened.
R Kathavarayan, 32, said he saw Sosilawati after driving his employer, N Pathmanabhan to the restaurant to meet his friends, on Sept 7, 2010.
“After getting out of the car, Pathmanabhan told me to wait while he went off to meet his friends there. After quite a while, they were all seen walking to their cars.
“On the way back, I asked Pathmanabhan who was the woman at the restaurant and he said she was the one who had visited the farm earlier. I said the woman looked different as her hair was short and Pathmanabhan said it was the same woman,” said Kathavarayan during examination-in-chief by his lawyer Hasshahari Johari Mawi.
Kathavarayan, 32, has been ordered to enter his defence, with Pathmanabhan, 43, T Thilaiyalagan, 21, and R Matan, 22, on a charge of murdering Sosilawati, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44.
They allegedly committed the offence at Ladang Gadong at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting between 8.30 and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.
They face the mandatory death penalty, upon conviction under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
In his testimony earlier, Kathavarayan said that Pathmanabhan and nine other individuals including Sosilawati, Kamaruddin, Ahmad Kamil and Noorhisham had come to the farm in three cars, about 7pm on Aug 30, 2010.
Hasshahari: From where you were waiting for Pathmanabhan, was your view of the woman clear or not?
Kathavarayan: I could not see her while I was sitting in the car. I saw her when she was walking to her car.
Hasshahari: How many people met with Pathmanabhan at the restaurant?
Kathavarayan: In the restaurant, I’m not sure but when they were walking to the car there were about five or six people.
Hasshahari: What car did the woman have and who accompanied her?
Kathavarayan: I’m not sure but it was like a jeep. A man was with her but I don’t know who he was.
Kathavarayan was then shown Sosilawati’s photograph and asked if the woman he saw at the restaurant was the same.
He said, “Her hair was not the same as in this photo, it was short. I’m not sure if her hair was coloured or not and she was dressed like an ordinary woman.”
Questioned on the appearance of the man accompanying the woman said to be Sosilawati, Kathavarayan said he was wearing a long sleeved T-shirt.
He also answered that he had never seen the man before.
Kathavarayan also made a shocking statement earlier when he was asked about a discussion between Pathmanabhan and Sosilawati, outside a room at the back of the farm, on Aug 30, 2010.
Hasshahari: Did you hear their discussion clearly.
Kathavarayan: A little.
Hasshahari: What did you hear?
Kathavarayan: Pathmanabhan ordered Thilaiyalagan to kill the driver (Kamaruddin) and he said ‘Sosilawati was the one who asked to do so but he was not told the reason.’
Hasshahari: How did the discussion proceed?
Kathavarayan: While they were in the room, Pathmanabhan was normal but I’m not sure how it was when they were outside the room. But when they left the room, (Pathmanabhan and Sosilawati) I saw Sosilawati gloomy and Pathmanabhan in a rush to get some things out of the car.
To a question by Hasshahari, the fourth accused said after returning from Banting Town in the evening of Aug 31, 2010, he saw Thilaiyalagan and Matan burning the bodies of the murdered people, at the back of the farm.
“What do you mean by ‘the murdered people’, Hasshahari asked.
“The people I meant were the driver, Malay lawyer and another person I don’t know because I didn’t see the face,” he answered.
The fourth accused also said when he was interrogated by the police, he was shown seven photographs, which were of the four individuals who came to the farm (Sosilawati, Kamaruddin, Ahmad Kamil and Noorhisham) and three others.
He told the police that he did not know the four individuals who came to the farm but knew the other three, he added.
“You said you knew the three individuals in the photos, who were they,” Hasshahari questioned, to which the accused said, “Yes I know them, they’re Muthuraja, Shafik and Raj.”
The trial before Judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir resumes today. — Bernama