KOTA KINABALU: Former senator Datuk Maijol Mahap hopes that an appeal against the acquittal of Paksitani Amir Ali Khan on the charge of causing the death of a local girl be filed.
“I hope the prosecution will file an appeal to the High Court and do their best so as to serve justice to Norikoh’s family and the public, especially the people of Kota Marudu.
According to him, the people of Sabah, especially the people of Kota Marudu are disappointed, distressed and even angry that Amir was acquitted and discharged by the Sessions Court judge for the charge of murdering Norikoh Saliwa.
Maijol, a lawyer, disclosed that according to the judgement, the main reason why he (Amir) was acquitted was that there was a conflict of identity of the lorry from which the victim fell down from.
“The three prosecution witnesses, namely, Arwin Amin, Turagis Lamum and Nina Natasha Bigong have positively identified the lorry. But another witness by the name of Mohd Ibrar who was the prosecution’s own witness (PW 37) contradicted their testimonies by saying that the lorry was not the same lorry that was earlier identified by the three witnesses.
“For us in Kota Marudu, it is unbelievable that the accused was acquitted. We are stunned and wondering what went wrong. There were endless of comments in the Facebook showing their displeasures and anger.
“Among the questions people asked were why did the prosecution led by Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharuddin call Mohd Ibrar to identify the lorry when the same was already positively identified by their earlier three witnesses? Why Mohb Ibrar was a hostile witness or became a hostile witness for the prosecution? And when he turned hostile witness, why didn’t the prosecution challenge or impeach him?” he questioned.
Maijol said that throughout the trial, all the prosecution witnesses who were called to the court have spoken in consonant with the indictment against the Pakistani. But there was only this one witness who said otherwise. Was this statement from one person invalidated all the other witnesses statements?
“The Pakistani’s defence was not even called because there was no prima facie against him. The people of Kota Marudu can’t believe this. I think those people who know and followed the case will have a lot of question marks on their head now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Norikoh’s father Saliwah Madaya, when contacting Maijol by SMS, expressed his disappointment and sadness at Amir’s acquittal.