‘Drinking session before Grab driver’s murder’
Published on: Wednesday, May 10, 2023
By: Jo Ann Mool
Arsit and Amru
Kota Kinabalu: A prosecution witness in the trial of a paperless Filipino charged with murdering a Grab driver in Tuaran four years ago said he and the accused had a drinking session on the night of the incident.Amru Al Asy Japri, 28, said this during cross-examination by the accused’s counsel before Judge Leonard David Shim, who heard the trial of 26-year-old Arsit Indanan, who was accused of murdering Mohammad Hanafiee Jaffar, 27, inside a Proton Saga FLX between 4am and 5am on May 25, 2019 at the roadside of Jalan Marabahai at Tuaran.
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Amru was initially jointly charged with Arsit (also known as Nash) under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty, on conviction, but he was on Jan 31, this year, given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
To a question by counsel Mohd Ari Nadzrah Abd Rahman, Amru agreed he and Arsit were best friends.
Asked his reason to go to his parent’s house at Taman Bayu Idaman, Tuaran, Amru said it was because he wanted to get his clothes and other necessities.
On why he wanted to go to Bayu Idaman at about 3am, Amru said it was because he had just finished a drinking session with his friend and that was why he came back late.
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On why he went to Taman Bayu Idaman with Arsit, Amru replied that it was not the first time he brought Arsit home with him.
To a question, Amru said he did drink alcohol that night but was not sure of the amount.
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Amru remembered Arsit probably drank a lot of alcohol that night.
Asked by the prosecution during re-examination whether he was drunk that night, Amru said he was slightly drunk.
Asked by the prosecution on how he could confirm with what he had seen during the twist and stab incident if he was slightly drunk, Amru said he was confident with what he saw and that he was still steady at that time.
Earlier at the re-examination, when asked the reason he and Arsit for going out on the night of the incident, Amru said he and Arsit were actually from Kg Suang Parai behind the 1Borneo on that night as his cousin named Damat fetched them and went to Likas Platinum before they went to a pub at Kingfisher.
Amru said after going to the pub, Damat said he wanted to go to Safma and transport fish to Kota Belud.
“We have no transport so that was why we booked Grab to go back to Tuaran,” said Amru.
To another question by the prosecution during re-examination on how Arsit moved the Grab driver’s body from the driver’s seat to the front passenger seat, Amru said Arsit shoved the body to the front passenger seat while Arsit was in the rear passenger seat.
According to Amru, earlier during cross-examination, he had known Arsit for four years and stayed with Arsit’s family at Likas before the incident.
Amru disagreed with the counsel’s suggestion that he stayed in Arsit’s house on May 24, 2019 and planned with him to steal a car.
He also disagreed with the counsel’s suggestion that he and Arsit had planned to rob a Grab car on May 25, 2019.
Amru disagreed with the counsel’s suggestion that he and Arsit worked at a car wash at 1Borneo Hyper mall.
Meanwhile, another prosecution witness, Head of Borneo Region for Grab Kelvin Lam Vui Khiong confirmed that they have a registered driver by the name of Mohamad Hanafiee Jaffar based on the Grab app system and also provided to the court his identification card number, mobile phone number, email and his picture.
Lam, 45, whose job scope was managing and overseeing the operation of Grab services in Sabah and Sarawak, informed the court that based on Hanafiee’s job log extracted from the Grab App system, there were two bookings made for him on May 25, 2019.
Lam, who testified during examination-in-chief by the prosecution, said the first booking was to Beverly Hills Apartment at 3.05 am and the second was to 7-Eleven, Tuaran at 4.18 am.
He said the pick-up location for the second booking was at 36, Lorong Raja Udang 1C, Kingfisher 2, Kota Kinabalu by a user with the user name, [email protected], with a mobile phone number 601114181957 and that the driver reached the pick-up point at Kingfisher at 4.24 am on May 25, 2019.
Lam testified that based on the log, the ride was not completed and that the last status of the said booking was ‘dropping off phase’ and explained that dropping off status was a term used for Ride journey still in progress.
When referred to a document, namely booking information for the second booking, Lam said the driver did not reach the destination and that the estimation of time to reach the destination was at 4.54 am.
When referred to another document, namely the passenger’s information under the email of [email protected], Lam said the said user registered as a user on May 10, 2019 and that the payment type for the ride of the second booking was cash term.
Lam said the picture on the said document was the picture of the user registered and that it is required for the user to provide their picture in order to register as a user with a selfie taken from the Grab app.
To a question on the information stating “May 26, 2019 - # schedule ban due to safety issue – Asyraf”, Lam said that statement was upon receiving the news on the driver’s incident, their safety bans the passenger last recorded.
He added that it was a normal process where there is a pending investigation on any safety incident.
When asked whether he knew what had happened to the said Grab driver in the incident, Lam said the driver was found dead.
Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPP) Azreen Yas Mohamad Ramli and Rozana Abdul Hadi appeared for the prosecution.
Trial continues.
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