KOTA KINABALU: A chemist testified in the murder trial of a police inspector yesterday that he received exhibits pertaining to the case handed over by investigating officer, ASP Lee Nyuk Kim, to the Chemistry Department for analysis on October 11, 2011.
Abdul Razak Mohd Iman, who is based in Tawau, told the High Court that he made a list of the exhibits for analysis and the results of the analysis were written in a report that was tendered to the court as exhibit ‘P51.’
However, the 24th prosecution witness told Justice Chew Soo Ho that he did not make analysis of those exhibits that contained the suspect’s DNA samples such as blood, saliva and semen.
Ahmad Rizal Umar, 33, of Perak is charged with murdering single mother Kartini Borhan, 27, at a house in Taman Adika, Keningau on September 29, 2011.
The charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Abdul Razak testified that he had instead suggested to the police for the exhibits which contained the suspect’s DNA samples to be sent to a DNA laboratory in Kuching for analysis.
Upon completing his analysis, the witness said that he had returned all the exhibits to the police together with the report that he prepared.
Earlier, Abdul Razak testified that after receiving the exhibits from ASP Lee, he had issued a receipt of confirmation to the investigating officer.
Deputy public prosecutors Syaripuddin Abd Rasa and Ahmad Nazneen acted for the prosecution while counsels Ram Singh and Ridzwandean Bohari M Borhan for the accused.
On August 20 this year, ASP Lee, as the 16th prosecution witness, testified that all the evidences of the case kept inside a storeroom at the Keningau police station were completely destroyed when the storeroom caught fire on April 26 this year.
At another hearing, Razali Kayun, the 17th prosecution witness, who is a State Fire and Rescue Department officer in charge of investigating the cause of the fire that hit the police station, testified that the fire was not a case of arson, but an accident.
From his investigations, Razali concluded that the fire that hit the police station’s evidence store room was from an electrical discharge due to faulty wiring which eventually sparked a fire.