SHAH ALAM: A photograph which the police took of accused Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar pointing to a black jacket to show where he kept Altantuya Shaariibuu's jewellery was not a re-enactment.

The High Court heard yesterday that the photograph was taken spontaneously when a police team went to Sirul's apartment to recover the jewellery after he allegedly told the police where he kept them.

Deputy public prosecutor Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah said the picture was taken by photographer Lance Corporal Kamarolzaman Mat Nor after ASP Zulkarnain Samsudin told him to stand-by with a camera.

"Zulkarnain said the photograph was taken spontaneously and that he did not ask Sirul to pose," he said in his submission.

(In the photograph, Sirul was seen pointing to a black leather jacket taken from his cupboard in his three-bedroom apartment in Kota Damansara. Altantuya's jewellery was found in a pocket of the jacket.)
He submitted that Zulkarnain said Sirul had told the police where he kept the jewellery, while Sirul was retrieving the jacket.

"Witnesses like Chief Inspector Koh Fei Cheow and Corporal Chiam Swee Guan confirmed this," he said, adding that this showed Sirul's possession and knowledge of the jewellery.

Tun Abd Majid said the police witnesses had said the same thing as to where Sirul kept the jewellery, although they might have used different words.

"For all intent and purposes, the meaning is the same," he said.

"All these things happened within a short period of time.

"It is almost impossible to say exactly what took place, particularly so when we look at the act of pointing to the jacket, followed by retrieving the jewellery and at the same time uttering the words."

Sirul, 36, and Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 32, both Special Action Squad (UTK) members are charged with murdering Altantuya at Mukim Bukit Raja, Selangor, between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am the following day. Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, 47, is charged with abetting them.

Tun Abd Majid submitted that although Chiam and Kamarolzaman had contradicted Zulkarnain and Koh's evidence, the discrepancies did not detract from the main thrust of the prosecution case.

"The fact remains that the jewellery was found in Sirul's jacket," he said.

He added that if the police wanted to fabricate evidence against Sirul, they would not have taken the risk of doing it in the presence of others (the UTK and the bomb disposal unit were also in the apartment).

"We urge the court to consider this ... the jewellery was in Sirul's possession as it was in Sirul's jacket which was hung in his closet.

"The unit was occupied by him and the jacket was found in his room."

The DPP added that Sirul had given this information leading to the discovery voluntarily when he was interrogated on Nov 7, 2006.

"Sirul is not the kind of person who would succumb to pressure, threats, inducements or promises as he was familiar with interrogation techniques," he said.

"We submit that there is not enough evidence for the court to exercise its discretion to exclude the information leading to the discovery of the jewellery."

Tun Abd Majid also urged the court to impeach witness DSP Yusri Hassan Basri as his testimony in court contradicted his police statement. (Yusri was also at the apartment when the police found the jewellery).

Hearing before judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin continues on Monday.