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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| 'Important witnesses' lied |
| 2009-02-05 |
| A policeman accused of killing Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu broke down in court yesterday as he accused 'important witnesses' of lying to pin the full blame on him. Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar also denied shooting Ms Altantuya, 28, and blowing up her body with explosives in a jungle in Puncak Alam here between 10pm on Oct19 and 1am on Oct 20, 2006. He said he was involved in the matter only because it was a request from a superior officer who is also an aide to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak. Sirul, 36, said he had agreed to patrol the house of political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, when another accused, chief inspector Azilah Hadri, 32, told him that the directive came from Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Musa Safri. Sirul and Azilah were accused of killing Mr Abdul Razak's former lover, Ms Altantuya. Mr Abdul Razak, a close friend of Datuk Seri Najib, was acquitted of abetting the murder last year. The close affiliations with Mr Najib had given his political enemies opportunities to drag him into the case. In his testimony on Jan 15, Azilah denied killing Ms Altantuya and said he had never planned to do so. Azilah also stated that DSP Musa had asked him to help Mr Abdul Razak. As Sirul read out his 15-page testimony from the dock without taking oath yesterday, he said he never knew Ms Altantuya or Mr Abdul Razak. He broke down when he appealed to the court to have mercy on him as he had been made a 'scapegoat' in the case to protect those with the cruel intention of killing the Mongolian woman. 'I appeal to this court to take into consideration that throughout the trial, I had followed the proceedings and witnessed how several important prosecution witnesses, especially those from the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters, made up stories, lied and constantly changed their stories during cross-examination. 'I did not have any intention to harm or even take the victim's life with such cruelty,' Sirul said in between sobs. |
| Posted by:Fred |