SHAH ALAM:

The High Court will decide tomorrow whether to accept a police officer’s testimony that Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar said to him: "I can tell you where the woman was blasted."

On Thursday, ASP Zulkarnain Samsudin told the court that Sirul had gone with a police party to the crime scene in Puncak Alam and uttered the words.

Judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin, who heard submissions from deputy public prosecutor Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah and Sirul’s counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, postponed the hearing to tomorrow.

Kamarul objected to the evidence, saying that it was inadmissible.

"A statement can only be admitted if the accused person was cautioned first under Section 113, Section 27 of the Evidence Act 1950 (a statement leading to discovery), or through confession which is made voluntarily.


"The prosecution’s attempt to admit the statement through Section 8 of the Evidence Act is like trying to gain a back door entry," he said.

Counsel Wong Kian Kheong, who is appearing for Abdul Razak Baginda, also said that any statement made by an accused person must be cautioned.

Tun Majid, however, said the prosecution relied on an explanatory note in Section 8 of the Evidence Act.

"It is our contention that the statement that is accompanied by the act should be admitted. Apart from Section 27, Section 8 should be treated as an exception, as they come hand in hand. They are not to be treated exclusively," he said.

Tun Majid said such statements accompanied by a conduct should be admitted as the statement would explain the conduct, or else it would have no meaning.

"In this case, the utterance of the words was followed by the act of pointing to the scene where the woman was exploded, is a conduct," he said.

Sirul, 36, and Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 31, both members of the Special Action Squad, were charged with the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, 28, at Mukim Bukit Raja, Selangor, between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20 last year. She was blown up with explosives in the forest area at Puncak Alam on Nov 7.

Razak, 47, a political analyst, was charged with abetting the policemen.