Bill said fearful for his life, Dr Teo tells court

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MIRI: Miri PKR chief Dr Teo Yu Keng told the High Court yesterday that the party’s Miri secretary Bill Kayong had told him a couple of times that he was fearful for his life, and that he sensed his car was being followed numerous times by some people.

Dr Teo was among three witnesses called to testify yesterday in the case against  Mohamad Fitri Pauzi, 30, from Jalan Dawai 1 of Pujut 4D, who is charged with the murder of Bill Kayong. Three others namely Datuk Stephen Lee Chee Kiang, 46; Chin Wui Ching, 51; and Lie Chang Loon, 38 claimed trial to abetting bouncer Mohamad Fitri in murdering Bill.

Dr Teo also said Bill had told him the same thing a week before the murder took place, and had asked him (Dr Teo) to be careful as well.

“I myself was threatened and I lodged a police report on Aug 24, 2015. In the report, I told the police that a certain man called ‘Ah Lek’ – identified as one of Stephen Lee’s friends – said he was not happy with me,” he told the court before Judge Ravinthran Paramaguru.

“He shouted at me in the phone and said he would come to my house the same night or to my clinic the next day to kill me. He spoke in Hokkien and I recorded the conversation on another phone. I went to make the police report the same hour it happened.

“A few weeks before, I received a phone call and he (the caller) identified himself as Stephen Lee; he said he wanted to meet me and I agreed to meet him at a coffee shop near my clinic. I went there alone and Stephen Lee came with a friend called ‘Ah Lek’.

“Stephen Lee told me he had bought a plantation for RM10 million and had paid Dr Haizam RM6 million and he wanted me to help him on this case. I told him I didn’t know much about the case but I promised to help him,” he said, adding Bill had also told him that the case was already being brought to court.

After lodging the police report on Aug 24, 2015, Dr Teo said he closed his clinic the next day – fearful for his life. The following day, Stephen Lee and ‘Ah Lek’ went to see him to apologise for Ah Lek’s behaviour in threatening him (Dr Teo).

Stephen Lee also told Dr Teo that he would bring ‘Ah Lek’ to the police station.

Dr Teo, however, disagreed when the defence counsel Orlando Chua said Stephen Lee had displayed his humility by apologising to him (Dr Teo).

“Because the way he (Stephen) said it, it was not sincere; the tone and behaviour did not show that he was sorry,” he said, adding that Bill was also in so much stress over the case for a long period of time prior to his death.

The 20th witness Jambai Jali, 46, from Bekelit, Bekenu in his statement, which was translated from Iban, said he came to know of Bill because Bill had always assisted the longhouse folk and attended to their land issue.

“He (Bill) would ‘turun padang’ (come down) to assist us in our land issue with Tung Huat Pelita Niah Plantation. I, myself, do not have enemy; these people

(from the company) were the ones disturbing Bill Kayong. These people always threatened us because they did not want the late Bill Kayong to support the longhouse folk.

“Bill did explain to me that these Tung Huat people always wanted to bribe him (Bill) so that we would surrender our land to Tung Huat, but he refused as he did not have any land there and that’s why the company threatened Bill when they knew that Bill could not wheedle us.”

Jambai, however, told the court that Bill did not tell him in details about the threats that he received.

“He only told me he ‘received threat’ from people in the company,” he said.

The trial continued with the 21st witness Insp Mhd Riyadh Solihin Abdul Rahim, 32, an analyst at the Ballistic Unit of the Forensic Laboratory in Bukit Aman.

Mhd Riyadh said he received the exhibits which consisted of one shotgun, one gun holster and 16 bullets gauge on Aug 11 last year from ASP Nik Mohd Norhisham.

“Upon receiving them, I inspected the exhibits and  signed  on  the receiving form and brought the exhibits to the test firing room, physically checking the entire exhibits before conducting the test fire twice.

“Then, I collected the shell (of the bullets) and prepared a serviceability report,” he said, adding that all exhibits were kept in a locked metal cabinet inside his room with him the only one with access to it.

Asked why he did not check for gunshot residue, Mhd Riyadh said he only received a request from ASP Nik Mohd Norhisham to do a serviceability test only.

According to Mhd Riyadh, if a shotgun is blocked, no projectile would pass through the barrel and it would be considered as not serviceable.

“I have done physical inspection on the shotgun and there is no blockage,” he said, adding that the shotgun did not look like a homemade shotgun based on its physical appearance and that the shotgun had neither serial numbers nor any brand.

Bill Kayong – or Mohd Hasbie Abdullah – was gunned down while waiting inside his car at a traffic light intersection near E-Mart Supermarket in Kuala Baram Bypass at 8.20am on June 21 last year.

The hearing continues today.