Saturday March 16, 2013

Despatch rider tells court he was unable to serve subpoena

SHAH ALAM: A despatch rider told the High Court here he could not serve a subpoena to a lawyer who represented a man arrested in connection with the murders of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and her three companions.

S. Baskaran, 30, who works at Hakem Arabi & Associates, said he went to one Roslie Sulle’s house at Taman Golden off Jalan Ipoh on Oct 11, last year. Roslie’s house address was also his office address.

“There was nobody at home so I put the subpoena in the letter box,” he said.

Roslie’s name was brought up in court as N. Kandasamy, 52, testified on Thursday that his son K. Sarawanan, 22, was “tricked and forced” into confessing that he had disposed evidence related to the murders of Sosilawati and her companions. Roslie had represented Sarawanan when he admitted to the offence at a magistrate’s court in Banting in October 2010.

Baskaran said he recently returned to the house on March 5, 2013, to hand over another subpoena for this week’s hearing dates.

“The house was shut. Nobody was home,” he said.

Baskaran said he visited the house three times on Oct 11 and Dec 3, 2012 and recently on March 5 to hand over subpoenas but to no avail.

He said that at 4.30pm on March 14, 2011, he tried to serve a subpoena on Asst Comm Abdul Aziz Zakaria at the Hang Tuah police headquarters.

“He (ACP Abdul Aziz) said he won’t sign the subpoena because he wants a notice from the lawyer. He said pergi mampus (go and die) and he couldn’t care less if they issued him a warrant of arrest,” he said.

Earlier, assistant director C. Gayathri, 42, from the Bar Council’s membership department testified that Roslie was no longer in practice.

The witnesses were testifying in the trial of four men – N. Pathmanabhan, T. Thilayalagan, R. Matan and R. Kathavarayan – who have claimed trial to murdering Sosilawati and her companions.

They allegedly committed the offences at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjung Layang, Tanjung Sepat, Banting, between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.

Lead defence counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon later applied for a warrant of arrest to be issued on ACP Abdul Aziz on grounds that the police officer had shown “total disrespect for the subpoena and the court”.

Manjeet also urged the media to broadcast that Roslie was required to appear before the court.

Justice Akhtar Tahir agreed to Manjeet’s application for a media broadcast on Roslie.

It is learnt that the judge was later informed by the prosecution that ACP Abdul Aziz is currently under treatment at the National Heart Institute.

The hearing continues on Monday.

News

Saturday March 16, 2013

Despatch rider tells court he was unable to serve subpoena