KUALA LUMPUR: After four years, the defence and prosecution in the case of army pathologist Dr R. Kunaseegaran and five men who were charged with the murder of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais, wrapped up the case today.
High Court judge Datuk Azman Abdullah fixed July 10 to decide whether the six will walk out of the court as free men or be sentenced to the gallows.
The judge fixed the date after both parties highlighted the important issues during the trial in their respective submissions at the end of the defence case.
The five other accused are S. Ravichandran, 49; S. Nimalan, 24; R. Dineshwaran, 25; AK. Thinesh Kumar, 24; and M. Vishwanath, 27.
Earlier, counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan, who represented Kunaseegaran, said the prosecution did not manage to connect his client to the murder, nor did it adduce sufficient evidence to convict the accused.
He argued that although the prosecution contended that the accused was actively involved in the murder, there was not even circumstantial evidence to prove it.
He added that the prosecution had also failed to prove that the accused was at the locations where the murder and disposal of the body took place.
"There is a gap in the prosecution's case. It failed to show that the accused had caused Kevin's death or hire people to do it. There is no money trail (if Kuneseegaran hired someone to kill Morais)," he said.
Sivananthan also argued that the issue raised by the prosecution that Kunaseegaran had motive because he was holding a grudge against Morais does not translate into an order to kill.
He said it was not disputed that Kunaseegaran was unhappy with Morais handling his corruption cases in the Shah Alam court, but the accused did nothing about it.
"In fact, the accused mentioned that Kevin helped him a lot in terms of his bail money being reduced and there was no evidence saying that they were in a fight," he said.
Touching on the technicality of the charge of common intention under Section 34 of the Penal Code, Sivananthan said the prosecution had failed to prove the element.
He added that the five other accused had common intention among them, but they did not have a common intention with Kunaseegaran.
"There is no evidence to support the accused's charge under Section 34 to show that all the accused had common intention. The accused were not at the locations where the murder took place and there was no phone record to show that they contacted each other during the time of the murder," he said.
Meanwhile, counsel Datuk Sheelan Arjunan, who represented the other five accused, highlighted the issue of DNA which was found on the wire used to tie up the gunny sack in which Morais' body was found.
He said according to a chemist expert witness, the DNA on the wire did not match any of the DNA of the 11 people arrested in the case which included all the accused.
"There might be a possibility that the DNA belongs to the real killer and if all the accused had murdered the victim, their DNA would be on the wire.
"Until today, the prosecution had failed to show where the victim was killed and who killed him and there is no evidence to show that the accused had murdered the victim," he said in closing his submissions.
In rebutting the defence's submissions, deputy public prosecutor Saiful Edris Zainuddin said based on circumstantial evidence, Kunaseegaran was seen as someone who had problems with the deceased which proves the motive.
He said although the accused was not seen anywhere in the locations where the crime occurred, he was stressed out due to the additional charges he faced in his case that Morais was handling.
"In the testimony of deputy public prosecutor Savinder Singh Jugindar Singh, the prosecution witness confirmed that the accused had expressed dissatisfaction with the two additional charges against him which had caused his legal fees to be increased.
"Another witness testified that the accused had mentioned that the additional charges he faced would cause him to become poor," he said, adding that Kunaseegaran had also applied for Morais to be recused from prosecuting his case.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said it is safe for the court to convict all the accused since the evidence by them adduced before the court were not in their favour.
He added that the evidence by all the accused during the course of the trial are just a bare denial and an afterthought.
"The prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against all accused and we urge the court to convict and sentence them to the gallows," he said, closing his submissions.
A total of 70 prosecution witnesses and 14 defence witnesses including all the accused took the stand to testify in the trial which began on April 6, 2016.
All the accused were ordered to enter their defence on Jan 18, 2018.
Kunaseegaran, Ravichandran, Nimalan, Dineshwaran,Thinesh Kumar and Vishwanath, were charged with murdering Morais, 55, between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015, while the victim was on his way from Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul to No. 1 Jalan USJ1/6D, Subang Jaya.
