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Teams failed to cordon off gunmen’s location – commando BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Court - New 2 Sarawak

Teams failed to cordon off gunmen’s location – commando

Posted: 15 Jan 2014 09:43 AM PST

by Suraini Andokong. Posted on January 16, 2014, Thursday

KOTA KINABALU: The High Court here yesterday heard that the five teams designated to cordon off the area of Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, where the armed men were holed up found their effort to be futile.

Commando Macha Ak Ata, 48, told Justice Stephen Chung that the five teams were not successful in fully guarding the location of the armed men.

"The guarding of the armed men's area could not be fully executed from shoulder to shoulder as the area was too wide, swampy, bushy and it is a jungle area," said Macha in response to a suggestion by counsel Rowiena Rasad, who represented Pabblo Alie.

Macha was the third witness called by the prosecution to give his oral testimony in the trial of 29 accused persons, including Datu Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, who is the nephew of the late self-styled Sulu Sultanate III Datu Jamalul Kiram, who were charged with committing terrorism acts.

They had allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12, 2013 and April 10, 2013 at several places in Lahad Datu, Semporna and Sandakan.

The indictment was framed under the Penal Code which carries the death sentence while the rest provided for life imprisonment and a fine upon conviction.

The trial was held at a hall used as an open court at the Central Prisons in Kepayan under tight security by prison personnel named Trup Tindakan Cepat (TTC) while a VAT69 personnel escorted each accused.

To another question from Rowiena under cross examination, the witness disagreed that his experience alone as a commando could help in this Ops Daulat.

"The effectiveness of this operation also depended on other sectors, the terrain, as well as the assessment of our men," explained Macha where one of his men was killed during the first day of the firefight on March 1, 2013.

He also said there was no changes made on the instructions given by their superior after the gunfight which occurred about 300 meters from Kampung Tanduo.

"From February 15, 2013 up to April 10, 2013, there was no other place that we were tasked to do operations, only Kampung Tanduo," he added.

The prosecution led by Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, was assisted by deputy public prosecutors Abdul Wahab Mohamed, Ishak Mad Yussoff, Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar, Cheng Kher Her and Anati Kisahi, while counsels involved were Datuk N Sivananthan together with team James Tsai, Stella Simon, Zaleha Mohd Yusof Pan, Majnah Abdillah and Zakaria Ahmad for the 27 accused; Ram Singh, Kamaruddin Mohd Chinki and YS Lo for Mohamed Ali Ahmad, and Abdul Ghani Zelika defended Abdul Hadi Mawan.

The trial continues today.

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Brothers in bird’s nest heist case charged

Posted: 15 Jan 2014 08:31 AM PST

SARIKEI: A magistrates' court has charged two brothers, who allegedly broke into a bird's nest farmhouse in Kampung Bruit, Daro District near here, with housebreaking under Section 457 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same Code.

Herman Sapawi, 31, and Azuan Sapawi, 24, claimed trial and the court allowed each of them to be released on RM5,000 bail in two local sureties with RM1,500 to be deposited with the court pending the next mention of the case on Feb 20.

According to the charge read by prosecuting officer Inspector Anbarasu Gobi, the two brothers allegedly committed the offence early on Dec 26.

The owner only discovered the break-in on the afternoon of Jan 2 when he went to check on the premises.

Herman and Azuan were identified based on CCTV footage, which later led to their arrest on Jan 8.

Total loss reported was around RM4,000 and included bird's nests and a CCTV monitor.

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Court upholds decision against newspaper over two defamatory articles

Posted: 15 Jan 2014 08:31 AM PST

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision which had ruled earlier that two articles published by Utusan Malaysia (M) Sdn Bhd were defamatory and related to opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's interview with BBC on homosexual laws two years ago.

A three-member panel headed by justice Datuk Zaharah Ibrahim ruled that there was no merit in the appellant's appeal after perusing the ground of judgement and note of the proceedings of the High Court.

The panel ordered cost of RM25,000 to be paid to the respondent.

The court also dismissed the application by Umno to intervene in the appeal. However, no cost was ordered.

The other two panel members were justice Datuk Mah Weng Kwai and Datuk K Anantham.

Later, counsel Abu Bakar As-Sidek told reporters that Umno made the application over the issue whether the party had influence over editorial policy of the daily.

The High Court last year ruled that the defendants Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd and its chief editor Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak failed to establish all the statutory defences, namely justification, fair comment and qualified privilege.

On Jan 10 2012, Anwar filed a defamation suit seeking RM50 million in damages alleging the defendants had published the two articles in the Utusan Malaysia newspaper, on Jan 17, 2012, in relation to his BBC interview.

He had contended that the words implied he was unfit to hold public office and a Muslim leader who held views inconsistent with the teachings of Islam.

During yesterday's appeal, Anwar was represented by lawyer R Sivarasa, while Datuk Firuz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin appeared for Utusan. — Bernama

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‘Allah’ issue: Hearing of church’s application for leave to appeal rescheduled to March 5

Posted: 15 Jan 2014 08:25 AM PST

PUTRAJAYA: The hearing of the Catholic Church's application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal's ruling that its weekly publication The Herald is prohibited from using the word 'Allah' has been rescheduled to March 5.

Head of the Corporate Communications and International Relations Unit of the Chief Registrar's Office of the Federal Court, Mohd Aizuddin Zolkeply, when contacted, confirmed that the hearing date was rescheduled to March 5.

The hearing of the church's leave to appeal application was originally scheduled for Feb 24.

Meanwhile, one of the lawyers representing the church, S Selvarajah said he was informed by the Federal Court deputy registrar on Monday of the shift in the hearing date.

Selvarajah said the deputy registrar had given him a verbal confirmation on the new date.

Selvarajah said he was informed that the earlier date was not suitable to some of the judges sitting on the panel to hear the application.

On Oct 14 last year, a three-man bench of the Court of Appeal led by Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali unanimously allowed the government's appeal to ban The Herald from using the word Allah.

The court had set aside the decision of a High Court which had allowed the publication to use the word Allah.

In 2009, the Roman Catholic church led by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam filed a judicial review application naming the Home Ministry and the government as respondents, seeking, among others, a declaration that the ministry's decision to prohibit the use of the word Allah in The Herald publication was illegal.

The weekly, published in four languages, has been using the word Allah to refer to God in the Herald Malay-language section, specially to cater for Catholics in Sabah and Sarawak.

On Dec 31, 2009, the High Court declared the decision by the Home Ministry prohibiting The Herald from using the word Allah was illegal, null and void.

The church filed an application for leave to appeal to the Federal Court on Nov 11 last year by submitting 26 questions on the Federal Constitution, administrative law as well as the power of the court

to allow the Home Minister to ban the use of a theological word.

The constitutional questions framed by the church's lawyers were to debate on Islam as the religion of the federation, freedom of speech, religion and the right to religious education.

In civil cases at the Federal Court, applicants need to obtain permission from the court to bring the matter up for appeal. — Bernama

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Commandos unable to fully guard Kampung Tanduo, High Court told

Posted: 15 Jan 2014 08:24 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: The VAT69 commandos carrying out a close reconnaisance (recce) operation to cordon off Kampung Tanduo on March 1 last year when a shoot-out occurred could not completely guard the whole area, the High Court heard here yesterday.

Superintendent Mancha Laga, the leader of one of five teams carrying out the operation, said each team was positioned quite far from each other.

"The teams could not fully guard the area shoulder-to-shoulder because the area was quite vast.

"It (area) was also swampy, bushy and forested," he told the High Court, which convened at the Sabah Prisons Department here.

He said this when cross-examined by counsel Rowiena Rasad at the trial of 30 people charged with various offences related to terrorism activities in Sabah last year.

Mancha also disagreed with Rowiena that as an experienced VAT69 commando, having served 28 years with the unit, he should have been able to fully guard his area of responsibility.

He explained that the effectiveness of the operation at each sector or area of responsibilty depended on the terrain and evaluation of the area by the personnel.

Twenty-two of the 30 individuals jointly being tried, including two Malaysian men, are charged with waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, an offence which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment, and being members of a terrorist group, which is punishable with life imprisonment and a fine, if convicted.

Of the 22, one faces two additional charges of recruiting members of a terrorist group and harbouring persons knowing that they were members of a terrorist group.

Of the remaining eight, five are accused of being members of a terrorist group; one of them, the sole woman among the 30 and a Malaysian citizen, is charged with harbouring persons knowing they were members of a terrorist group, while two are charged with attempting to harbour persons knowing they were members of a terrorist group.

The rest are Philippine nationals. They are all accused of committing the respective offences between Feb 12 and April 10, last year.

The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung continues today. — Bernama

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Mustafa Ali and two others withdraw statements against Umno

Posted: 15 Jan 2014 08:17 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno's defamation case against PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali and two others has been settled with the defendants having withdrawn their statements linking Umno to the distribution of a sex video.

High Court judge Datuk John Louis O'Hara recorded the terms of the settlement in chambers with no order to cost.

Lawyer Raihanah Arifin, representing Umno, told reporters that the defendants' withdrawal of their statements against Umno was published in HarakahDaily and the Malaysian Insider news portal two days ago, saying that their statement on April 13 last year did not refer to Umno, but Umno bloggers.

Umno filed the suit last April 23 against Mustafa, his lawyer Asmuni Awi and PAS organ HarakahDaily.net's chief editor Zulkifli Sulong over allegedly defamatory statements that implicated Umno to the distribution of the video clip.

The sex video had featured a man that was said to resemble Mustafa.

In the statement of claim, filed by Umno secretary-general Datuk Abdul Rauf Yusoh, Umno claimed that the statements by the defendants, in five articles which were carried by www.malaysiakini.com, HarakahDaily.net and The Star newspaper, implied Umno as having masterminded the video clip.

Umno had sought for general, special, aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as interests and cost, and a injunction to stop the defendants from further publishing similar statements against the party. — Bernama

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