Witness Only Testified On Abduction Not Morais Murder Lawyer

---

An accused who turned prosecution witness only testified over Anthony Kevin Morais’ abduction at best and not the deputy public prosecutor’s murder, the Court of Appeal heard today.
Defence counsel Kitson Foong submitted that the oral evidence of G Gunasekaran never touched on the murder, just the kidnapping of the deceased in 2015.
During open-court proceedings before the three-person appellate bench chaired by Hadhariah Syed Ismail this morning, Foong pointed out that the lower trial court erred in relying on Gunasekaran’s uncorroborated evidence to convict S Ravi Chandaran for Morais’ (above) murder.
Foong noted that the early stages of the murder trial in 2016 against his client Ravi, Gunasekaran as well as five other men, had seen the prosecution struggling to prove the elements of murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
The lawyer contended that this led to prosecutors turning Gunasekaran into a star witness against the other six men. This in itself already raised the possibility of the said witness’ testimony being unreliable, Foong claimed.
“The trial started with 53 prosecution witnesses, and we humbly believe that the prosecution was struggling to prove murder. An offer was made and he (Gunasekaran) became the 54th witness on behalf of the prosecution.
“Despite them (prosecutors) trying to get the 54th witness to testify on murder, the witness never said that (and instead) alluded to kidnapping,” Foong told the appellate bench, which also comprised of judges Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Azmi Ariffin.
Foong added that the star witness’ testimony was weak as it only alluded to a common intention for kidnapping and not a murder charge.
Besides Ravi, 52, the other five appellants seeking to quash their murder conviction and death sentence over Morais’ killing are former pathologist Dr R Kunaseegaran, 60; R Dinishwaran, 31; AK Thinesh Kumar, 30; M Vishwanath, 33; and S Nimalan, 30.
The appellants in court when they were charged with murder in 2015The Court of Appeal hearing will resume on Dec 14, with Vishwanath’s legal team expected to mount their oral submissions as well as prosecutors to counter the appellants’ arguments.
Death sentence
On July 10, 2020, then Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Azman Abdullah convicted and sentenced the six men to death over Morais’ murder.
Morais' body was found in a barrel filled with concrete on Sept 16, 2015, in Subang Jaya. A total of 84 witnesses, including 14 defence witnesses, testified in the trial that began on April 6, 2016.
The six accused were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which at the time carried the mandatory death penalty. The government abolished the mandatory death penalty this year, making it an optional sentence for murder and other certain offences.
Gunasekaran was initially charged alongside the other six accused.
However, on Dec 20, 2016, the High Court allowed the prosecution’s application to withdraw the murder charge against Gunasekaran and instead, he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge under Section 201 of the Penal Code for disposing of Morais’ body.
While serving a two-year jail sentence for the alternative charge, Gunasekaran testified for the prosecution against the six men. He was released from prison after serving his term in January 2017.
During the trial, the issue of the possible motive behind Morais’ murder was raised by the prosecution, namely that it was linked to the deceased's role in a separate case against alleged mastermind Kunaseegaran at the Shah Alam courts. - Mkini

---