KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan once again found himself in the “hot seat” when he was grilled by Anwar Ibrahim's lead counsel Karpal Singh, who accused the former of spinning tales.
The star witness, who claims to have been sodomised by Anwar, was recalled by the defence despite having finished with his testimony on Monday.
Zeroing on the complainant, Karpal tells Saiful that the alleged sodomy incident on June 26, 2008, which purportedly took place at the Desa Condominium here, did not happen.
Saiful disagreed, insisting that it did take place.
Karpal then told the witness that Anwar was in a different unit at the time, Unit 11-5-2.
Saiful replied: “No, Anwar was in 11-5-1.”
This prompted Karpal to shoot back, “You are lying”.
The witness denied that he was making a fraudulent claim and reiterated that the opposition leader was in Unit 11-5-1.
Karpal then informed the court that the defence has submitted its notice of alibi to show that Anwar was not at the scene of the crime.
Following a request by the defence, Judge Mohd Zabidin Diah agreed for the rest of the proceedings to be held in camera.
Swearing on the Quran
Earlier, Karpal had grilled Saiful on his move to swear on the Quran that he was telling the truth about the sodomy allegation.
The defence questioned the timing, as it happened on the eve of nomination day for the Permatang Pauh by-election in Augut 2008, which marked the return of Anwar to active politics.
Saiful said that it was purely coincidental, and not premeditated to dent Anwar's electoral chances.
However, he conceded to making a blog entry on Aug 2 wishing the opposition leader good luck in the by-election.
The 24-year-old former aide to Anwar was also quizzed on his sister's marriage. [read related report here]
HKL doc takes the stand
Shortly after 10.30am, the public were allowed into the courtroom again and the session resumed with the testimony of the second witness, Hospital Kuala Lumpur specialist surgeon Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim.
The doctor told the court that he has inspected more than 100 patients with problems related to their anus, and samples were taken using cotton swabs and syringes.
He also told the court that sodomy can take place without any injuries.
Razali was quizzed on the earlier medical reports stating that no signs of penetration or injuries were found in Saiful's anus.
The doctor said at the time, they had not received the report from the Chemistry Department that semen traces were found to establish that the act of sodomy had taken place.
Karpal had expressed unhappiness that the doctor was addressing the court in Bahasa Malaysia as the defence team was finding it difficult to translate his testimony to English for Dr David Wells, the Australian forensic expert hired by Anwar.
This morning, the defence team visited the two Desa condominium units.
Both Units 11-5-2 and 11-5-1 are owned by one Hasanuddin, who is said to be a close associate of Anwar. Hasanuddin, who lives in Unit 11-5-2, is currently not in town.
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