(Dec 4): The lawyer appearing for the pathologist charged with abetting in the murder of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais said the statutory declaration (SD) that exonerated his client is of no relevance to the case.
Datuk N. Sivananthan, who is representing Dr K. Kunasegaran, said the case would be decided on its merit.
"The SD has nothing to do with the facts of this case and all allegations (in the SD) are completely irrelevant," Sivananthan told The Malaysian Insider.
He was responding to the sworn statement by Charles, a younger brother of Kevin's, who had said he did not believe for a moment that Dr Kunasegaran was involved in the murder simply because his sibling was prosecuting the pathologist for corruption.
In the 18-page SD released on Nov 25, Charles said: "The doctor is intelligent enough to realise that getting rid of the DPP (Kevin) prosecuting his case will not emasculate the charge he is facing for the simple reason that there are many other DPPs who would take over that prosecution".
Sivananthan said Charles was also not a relevant witness in the case.
However, the lawyer said he would study key documents, including the post-mortem report, before deciding to make a representation to the public prosecutor whether to drop the charge against his client.
But lawyer M. Manoharan, appearing for two men charged with the murder, said Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali should write to the court and then apply for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal pending police completing their investigation into the SD.
"The SD reveals police investigations into the murder are incomplete. It is not fair for my clients to languish in jail as remand prisoners.
"They should be freed because they have been only charged and no plea has been taken," said Manoharan who is representing R. Dinishwaran, 23, and M. Vishwanath, 25.
The lawyer also questioned if police have recorded statements from Kevin's brothers, including Charles, soon after the DPP was reported missing.
"After having digested the SD, I was utterly shocked of the information divulged that would have been useful to determine the involvement of others and the motive for the crime," he added.
On Monday, the magistrate's court in Kuala Lumpur adjourned to Jan 7 the proceedings of six men charged with the murder and abetment as key documents to be used in the trial were not ready.
Mechanic A. Murugan, 44, together with Kunaseegaran, 52, are charged with abetting others in Kevin's murder at No 20, Desa Mentari between 9.30am and 8pm on Sept 4.
Murugan's case will be mentioned before a Petaling Jaya magistrate on Jan 6.
Apart from Dinishwaran and Vishwanath, the others facing the murder charge are G. Gunasekaran, 47, A. Thinesh Kumar, 22, S. Nimalan, 22, and S. Ravi Chandaran, 44 who are represented by V. Rajagopal.
Kevin's remains were found in a cemented drum at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya on Sept 16.
He was reported missing on Sept 4 and was last seen leaving his apartment at Menara Duta to Putrajaya in a Proton Perdana with registration number WA6264Q.
Charles left for the United States on Nov 25 after releasing the SD linking the murder to a corruption charge his brother was preparing against "highly placed government official".
Charles insisted for a second post-mortem to be conducted on Kevin's remains and also filed an application in court to facilitate this process.
However, on the day the application was filed, another sibling of the deceased, Datuk Richard, claimed the remains from the Kuala Lumpur hospital mortuary, without a second post mortem being done.
In explaining why he left Malaysia soon after releasing the contentious SD, Charles had said it was pointless for him to remain as the second post mortem could not be conducted after Richard had claimed the body.
Charles also alleged that Richard was in cahoots with "someone" to cover-up the circumstances leading to Kevin's murder. – The Malaysian Insider