KUALA LUMPUR: As judge Datuk Azman Abdullah ordered six men to enter their defence for allegedly murdering Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais, there was a distinctive and decidedly audible sigh of relief from the gallery.
That sigh came from Datuk Richard Morais, the elder brother of the murdered deputy public prosecutor (DPP).
There was a look of satisfaction on his face, too, albeit only for a second or two as he soon began to beam as Azman set Jan 18 for the defence trial to begin.
Richard had arrived as early as 2pm for the decision at the end of the prosecution’s case today of a so far 57-day trial.
He sat calmly in the public gallery together with the accused’s family members, who were also present to wait for the much anticipated decision at the High Court.
Azman, in ordering the accused to enter their defence, said the prosecution had proven a prima facie case against the six.
After the case, Richard said he was happy with the decision, adding that the prosecution team, led by DPP Saiful Edris Zainuddin, had done a “fantastic job”.
Counsel Datuk Simon Sabapathy, who conducted a watching brief for Richard throughout the case, said the family was hoping for proper justice for Kevin, as he was known to everyone.
“This is a high profile case (but all we) want is justice for Kevin,” he said.
Some of the accused’s family members could not hold back their tears as the decision was made. They were seen wiping their eyes as they left the courtroom.
Army pathologist Colonel Dr R. Kunaseegaran, R. Dinishwaran, 23, A. Thinesh Kumar, 22, M. Vishwanath, 25, S. Nimalan, 22, and S. Ravichandran, 45, were jointly charged with murdering Kevin, 55, between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015, while Morais was on his way from Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul to No. 1 Jalan USJ1/6D, Subang Jaya.
They face the mandatory death sentence should they be convicted.
Kevin was abducted on the morning of Sept 4 by several men. His remains were found in a cement-filled oil drum on Sept 16.
The accused were represented by M. Manoharan, V. Rajehgopal and G. Sivakumar.