High Court postpones Kevin Morais murder trial after accused admitted to hospital

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here yesterday postponed to Monday next week the hearing of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais’ murder case as one of the accused was admitted to hospital due to health problems.

Seventh accused, S Ravi Chandaran, 47, who is the sixth and last defence witness, was supposed to continue with his testimony yesterday when proceeding of the case resumed at 2.45pm yesterday. His lawyer, V Rajehgopal ,told Bernama that his client had been admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

“He ( Ravi Chandaran) has diabetes and high blood pressure. He was ordered to be sent to Tanglin Health Clinic for treatment, but the clinic referred him to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

“I am not sure how long he will be in hospital, but the court has fixed this Monday to continue hearing the case,” he added. After taking his oath on the 17th day trial of the case which started at 9.30am yesterday, Ravi Chandran told the court that he could testify, though still feeling dizzy.

Following which, judge Datuk Azman Abdullah ordered the police to accompany Ravi Chandaran to Tanglin Hospital.

“After that come back to the court and we see how,” he said.

Azman also postponed the hearing yesterday when Ravi Chandaran refused to testify, saying that he could not testify because he was not in a stable mind as he did not have enough sleep and was also not given food when he got back to prison.

R Dinishwaran, A K Thinesh Kumar, M Vishwanath, S Nimalan, Ravi Chandaran and an army doctor, Colonel Dr R Kunaseegaran, 55, had pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering Kevin Morais, 55, between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015, while the deputy public prosecutor was on his way from Jalan Dutamas 1, Sentul to No 1, Jalan USJ 1/ 6D, Subang Jaya.

They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code and faced the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

Dinishwaran, 26, Thinesh Kumar, 25, Vishwanath; 28, Nimalan and Ravi Chandaran were represented by Rajehgopal, while Dr Kunaseegaran, 55, was represented by lawyer Datuk N Sivananthan.

The prosecution team was led by deputy public prosecutor Saiful Edris Zainuddin.