Anthony Kevin Morais
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today was told that the charred car found in Hutan Melintang, Perak, and believed to belong to deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais, was torched on purpose and did not catch fire due to an accident.
A chemist from the Perak Chemistry Department, Khairul Anuar Abdul Aziz, said, this was based on the trail of petrol found inside and outside of the vehicle.
“Based on inspection and analysis, I think that the car was torched on purpose using petrol as the fire accelerant.
“If the car had caught fire due to accident, the trail of petrol cannot possibly be found in the cabin area of the car,” he said during the examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin on the eighth day of the Kevin Morais murder trial.
He said the evidence on the trail of petrol was obtained from the sample which he personally took from the left and right side of the rear passenger seat, as well as from both the driver and the front passenger’s foot areas.
Khairul Anuar, who has 22 years of experience as a chemist, said the car was 100 per cent burnt when he saw it the first time at the Hutan Melintang police station on Sept 7, 2015.
“On the first observation, the type of the car could not be ascertained, but following further inspection, I found out that it was a Proton Perdana car,” he said.
In reply to Wan Shaharuddin on whether the petrol was splashed or poured on the car, Khairul Anuar said he could not tell as the car was completely burnt.
While admitting that the chassis and engine numbers were unique for each vehicle, the 13th prosecution witness said there was a hole on the back panel of the engine area where the chassis number was usually stamped.
“I found that the hole was formed by cutting and removing the panel. The size of the cut area was about 15cm x 5cm.” – Bernama