By Debra Chong - The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 — It’s a make-or- break week for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s defence starting today when his lawyers, led by courtroom veteran Karpal Singh (picture), begin their cross-examination of the opposition leader’s accuser Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
The Parliamentary Opposition Leader, 62, is charged with sodomising his 24-year-old former aide at the upper-class Desa Damansara Condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008. This is Anwar’s second sodomy trial since 1998, when he was sacked as deputy prime minister and later convicted and jailed for the offence.
Last week, the prosecution, led by Solicitor General II, Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden, introduced Saiful as its first witness in open court but the defence managed to convince the court to continue a part of the testimony in-camera at the first sign of overly graphic details of the sex act.
Even so, lurid descriptions have leaked out detailing what the accuser and the accused allegedly wore – and took off – at the time and place of the supposed incident.
Saiful even shocked the court when he claimed that the PKR de facto leader had used profanity in propositioning him for sex.
Anwar has consistently maintained that the prosecution is acting on a trumped up charge and has repeatedly sought to get the court to drop the charge against him.
The Court of Appeal has fixed Feb 12 to hear Anwar’s case to strike out what he claims is an “evil and malicious” mistrial.
But the public can expect the defence to pounce on certain points of Saiful’s evidence, such as the fact that the former aide chose to see a doctor for help only two days after the supposed act, and claimed not to have passed motion for some 48 hours after being sodomised.
Lawyer Sankara Nair told The Malaysian Insider the defence team had huddled up over the weekend and were still busy “brainstorming”. He promised that the defence would leave no stone unturned to punch holes in Saiful’s evidence.
“We are looking at various angles,” said Sankara, adding that cross-examining Saiful will be a lengthy process that could last two days.
He declined to disclose the defence’s strategy but admitted they would try to show that Saiful is not a credible witness among several others.
“That would be included,” replied Sankara, who also acted for Anwar in his first sodomy trial.
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