BUKIT MERTAJAM: The Magistrate's Court here today fixed next Wednesday (Sept 29) to decide on the case of a former hairstylist, charged with causing the death of a college student by reckless driving more than two years ago.
Sessions Court Judge Ahzal Fariz Ahmad Khairuddin, who is presiding as a Magistrate, made the decision after M. Vaitheswaran's counsel, K. Paramanathan, told the court that he had only received the written submission from the prosecution yesterday and has yet to reply to it.
"According to the prosecution, they e-mailed the written submission to me but I did not receive it.
"As such, I asked the court for some time to reply to the written submission," he told the court.
Today was supposed to be fixed for decision at the end of the prosecution's case.
During the course of the trial, a total of 12 prosecution witnesses were called to testify.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohammad Nazri Abdul Rahim said
this was a public interest case and there should be no further delay.
"I believe if the court wants, it can decide on the matter now. However we will leave it to the court to decide," he said.
Mohammad Nazri said the written submission was only for the court to consider and not the prosecution or counsel.
"On our part, we have no plans to reply to the counsel's reply (after reading our written submission). We will stick to our submission before this," he added.
Ahzal Fariz then told Paramanathan that he should have checked with the prosecution much earlier and not wait until the last minute to do so.
"Why didn't you call the prosecution earlier when you did not receive it?
"Why only call them yesterday when decision was fixed for today?" he asked.
Ahzal Fariz also confirmed that the court had received the written submission by the prosecution.
Paramanathan then apologised and admitted to his fault and said he should have done so.
He said while this was a public interest case, the interest of his client should also be considered.
Ahzal Fariz said he hoped such a thing would not recur in future.
He then fixed next Wednesday for decision.
He also asked Paramanathan to submit his reply the latest by next Tuesday.
The prosecution submitted the written submission to the court and the counsel at the end of August.
Vaitheswaran, 23, was charged with causing the death of Moey Yun Peng, then 20, who was also his friend, at Km4 of the Penang Bridge (Prai-bound) about 3am on Jan 20, 2019.
He was charged under Section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987, which carries a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to RM20,000, if convicted.
He is currently out on RM7,000 bail.
Vaitheswaran's driving licence had been suspended until the trial ends and he was required to check in at the nearest police station monthly.
In the incident, the Mazda CX-5 sports utility vehicle (SUV) driven by Moey plunged into the sea after it collided with the Toyota Vios driven by the accused.
A dashcam video of the incident which went viral on Facebook showed the black Toyota Vios driven by Vaitheswaran, zig-zagging the three lanes of the bridge before crashing into the SUV.
The SUV flipped twice across three lanes, then slipped past the concrete guardrails to crash into the sea.
A massive search and recovery team managed to winch out the white Mazda two days after the incident, which was submerged 15m underwater at Pier 34 of the bridge, towards Prai.