‘Elements of crime against deceased found’
Published on: Wednesday, September 27, 2023
By: Jo Ann Mool
Riduan during examination-in-chief by the prosecution stated in his witness statement that on Oct 16, 2019 at 6.28pm an operational intelligence officer had informed the arrest of eight Prison officer and staff for being suspected of being involved in the incident of beating the deceased.
Kota Kinabalu: The 10 prison personnel, who were charged with murdering an inmate at Kepayan Prison, four years ago, were arrested two weeks after the alleged incident, the High Court heard on Tuesday.
The prosecution’s 26th witness, ASP Riduan Abdollah, a senior investigating officer attached to Criminal Investigation Division, Kota Kinabalu Headquarters testified before Judge Datuk Christopher Chin Soo Yin, said he was the investigating officer for the present case.
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Riduan stated in his witness statement that on Oct 7, 2019 he was informed by the Acting Head of the District Criminal Investigation Division to take over the investigation of the Sudden Death Report (SDR) from Tanjung Aru Police Chief Wagiman Seno in regard to a police report lodged by Prison staff Erwind Gulis to be reclassified because during the post mortem elements of crime against the deceased were found.
Riduan said the deceased was Shainal Mokhtar, 36, a prisoner.
On trial were Barry Jipmon, 30, Mohd Dzulfikri Mohd Safri, 28, Farizan Mokri, 40, Mohd Saiful Saidin, 34, Amran Yasik, 25, Ab Mutalib @ Talib Abd Rasul, 40, Zerry Maidin, 33, Tomy Momoh, 36, Shahryll Nazry Wan Sofian, 25, and Muhammad Fazi Lakui, 32.
They were all jointly accused of murdering Shainal Mukhtar in cell number 11, Gemilang Block, at Kota Kinabalu Central Prison, Jalan Kepayan near here at 4.20pm, between Oct 2 and Oct 4, 2019.
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The 10 accused had on Aug 24, 2020 claimed trial to the charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries a death penalty on conviction.
Riduan during examination-in-chief by the prosecution stated in his witness statement that on Oct 16, 2019 at 6.28pm an operational intelligence officer had informed the arrest of eight Prison officer and staff for being suspected of being involved in the incident of beating the deceased.
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Riduan stated the eight were Barry Jipmon, Mohd Dzulkifli Mohd Safri, Farizan Mokri, Mohd Saiful Saidin, Amran Yasik, Ab Mutalib @ Talib Ab Rasul, Zerry Maidin and Tomy Momoh who were then put in the lockup.
Riduan stated that the Magistrate on Oct 17, 2019 granted a seven-day remand for all eight Prison personnel to be investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
Riduan further stated that on Oct 18 at 9am another police officer informed on the arrest of another two Prison staff, namely Shahryll Nazri Wan Sofian and Muhammad Fazi Lakui, who were being remanded for seven days for investigation under Section 302, which was granted by a Magistrate on Oct 19.
The witness stated that on Oct 25, 2019 at 3pm he got instructions from Senior Federal Counsel Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim at Sabah State Director of Public Prosecutions Office that 10 Prison personnel to be charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code read with Section 24 of the same Act and that the 10 were charged at the Kota Kinabalu court on Oct 29, 2019.
Meanwhile, when asked to identify each of the accused, who were seated in the accused dock, Riduan positively identified six of them, namely Amran, Mohd Dzulfikri, Fazi, Shahryll, Tomy and Mutalib but wrongly identified the other four.
Riduan later explained that he inadvertently called Zerry as Saiful and vice versa since both were wearing sweaters with the same colour and also mispronounced the other names.
Earlier, in his witness statement, on Oct 14, 2019 at 4pm he together with the forensic team went back to the Central Prison to seize items believed to be used to beat the deceased and found a broken chair, a cane stick, a pipe stick, two sheets of curtain, a bucket, and a food container.
He said swabs on the seized goods were taken before marking and packing them in envelopes for DNA analysis.
The witness further stated that on Oct 24, 2019 he received a declaration letter at the Central Prison regarding the CCTV in the Gemilang zone not having a recording device since 2017.
Riduan also stated that on Nov 11, 2021 at 10pm he sent an application to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Records Unit to get Shainal’s psychiatric report while in treatment and received a letter on Nov 26, the same year that stated that Shainal never received psychiatric treatment at the hospital.
Riduan also identified a series of documents in relation to them throughout the investigation including the exhibits in the court.
Director of Prosecution Sabah Mohd Taufik Mohd @ Mohd Yusoff, Deputy Public Prosecutors Rustam Sanip and Bryan Francis for the prosecution.
Counsel PJ Perira, Chew and Ariel Dasan represented Dzulfikri, Farizan, Saiful, Mutalib and Zerry while Hairul defended Barry, Amran, Tommy, Shahryll and Fazi.
Trial continues.
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