Repatriation of N. Korea man ‘compromises defence case’

SHAH ALAM: The police’s decision to repatriate a North Korean man, known as “James”, in exchange for nine Malaysians held hostage in Pyongyang had compromised the defence’s case in the Kim Jong-nam murder trial, a lawyer has claimed.

Defence lawyer Gooi Soon Seng, representing Indonesian murder suspect Siti Aishah, said without James and three other North Korean prime suspects, the defence could only depend on independent evidence.

“Even if they were here, I am sure they would not admit to committing the crime.

“We hope to get independent evidence to show that what Siti did was really on her belief that it was a prank, guided by James.

“James is a prime witness for the defence… he should not have been allowed to return,” Gooi said at the Shah Alam High Court yesterday.

He said closed-circuit television camera footage of the incident showed Siti merely walking away from the scene of the crime and not committing the crime itself.

“Our focus is (to prove) that there was no (malicious) intention on Siti’s part, that she did not know what she was applying.

“That will excuse her from the crime. If she did not have the intention of committing a particular crime, she cannot be guilty of it.”

Yesterday was the final day of case management before the trial begins on Oct 2.

The defence received 34 hard copy documents and 26 DVDs from prosecution lawyers.

“We will study the voluminous documents presented to us today and verify them with our clients and experts.

“A (post-mortem) report that I read said that the cause of death was ‘degrading products of VX’ and not the VX agent itself. We need our own experts to study this,” said Gooi.

Representing Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are lawyers Datuk Naran Singh and Hisham Teh Poh Teik.

Hisham said the defence team had requested for the police statements given by the four North Koreans who were allowed to leave the country.

“The statements (have still not been) given to us and we are interested to look at (them).

“We are entitled to know because our client was charged together with the four of them,” he said.

Hisham said he was confident of his client’s innocence and that the rights of both of the accused women would be upheld.

As the prosecution would call on 10 witnesses consisting of experts, Naran said, the defence would also like to have their statements before the trial began.

“It will be better for us if they give their witness statements in advance (to allow) for a speedy trial,” he said, adding that the defence was in the midst of collecting additional evidence.