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Friday 28 January 2011

Banting murder case set for re-mention on Feb 24

A lawyer and three farm workers will appear in court again over the murder of cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya.

BANTING: The Telok Batok magistrate’s court here fixed Feb 24 for re-mention of the murder case in which a lawyer and three farm workers were charged with murdering cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three others in August last year.

Magistrate Hurman Hussain fixed the date after an application by the prosecution pending the outcome of the appeal and revision against the seven-year jail sentence meted out by the Shah Alam High Court on two farm workers for disposing of evidence in the murder case.

On Oct 13 last year, lawyer K Pathmanabhan, 41, and farm workers T Thilaiyagan, 19, R Matan, 20, and R Khatavarayan, 30, were charged with murdering Sosilawati, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44, at Lot No 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat near here on Aug 30.

On Oct 15, two of Pathmanaban’s workers K Sarawanan, 19, and U Suresh, 26, pleaded guilty to disposing of evidence by burning the bodies of the victims at Lot No 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat here between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30.

They had since filed an appeal and an application for a review of the case.

Earlier, lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad, representing all the accused, told the court that the defence had yet to receive the relevant documents from theprosecution.

He wanted assurance that the prosecution would hand the documents by Monday during the hearing of the appeal and review at the Shah Alam High Court.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff said the prosecution would hand over part of the documents.

Hurman said he could not keep on deferring the case and said that he planned to transfer the case to the high court.

Amer Hamzah said he also wanted the case to be transferred but it could not be done at the moment because the prosecution had not given the letter agreeing to the transfer yet.

“I know you are very upset, sir,” Amer Hamzah said, to which Hurman replied: “I am not very upset but I am not happy.”

The defence also told the court that they had yet to receive the police report lodged by one of the accused, Khatavarayan, at the Kuala Langat district police headquarters.

“We have also been told by Thilaiyagan and Matan that they have been assaulted while in jail. We have told the prison management that our clients want to make a police report,” he said.

-Bernama

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