Altantuya Murder Case 02/07/07

Prosecution seeks to impeach star witness

In a major twist to the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial, the prosecution today applied to impeach their own witness on the grounds that her testimony in the court contradicted her original statement which she gave to the police.
Considered the prosecution's star witness, Rohaniza Roslan, 29, is the seventh prosecution witness on Day 11 of the high-profile trial.
Deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin, who had been questioning Rohaniza since 9:20am this morning, shocked those present at the Shah Alam High Court with her impeachment request three hours later.
Noorin told justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin that she needed time to prepare the impeachment against the witness and requested for the court to adjourn for lunch.
“We intend to impeach this witness. I have to check if there are any contradictions between her testimony and her witness statement,” she said in the packed courtroom.
She then asked for court to resume at 2.30pm so the prosecution team can get their documents together for Mohd Zaki to make a ruling later.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, who is on trial for abetting the murder of the Mongolian woman, appeared elated with the sudden turn of events. He was seen smiling and hugging his family members during the lunch break.
When the court resumed after lunch, the prosecution team told the judge that they had found four areas where Rohaniza had contradicted herself.
The judge adjourned the trial to tomorrow after the prosecution asked for more time to examine Rohaniza's 16-page police statement.
They stopped at UTK office
On Friday, Rohaniza, a lance corporal, told the court that she was with one of the accused persons, chief inspector Azilah Hadri, 30, when he led a “Chinese woman” - whom she has identified as Altantuya - into her red Proton Wira.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda’s private investigator P Balasubramaniam had testified earlier that it was a red Proton Wira that took Altantuya away on Oct 19 last year.
Rohaniza, who was Azilah’s girlfriend at that time, last testified that the three of them in her car then followed an unidentified man in a green cap who drove a dark green Suzuki Vitara.
This morning, she told the court that the two cars stopped near the Bukit Aman police headquarters at a junction leading up to the Special Forces Unit (UTK) office.
She said Azilah told Altantuya that they were at the police station when the victim asked him where they were.
“Altantuya then said, ‘this is not a police station, this is a house’. I think she said it because it was dark,” she explained.
She then explained that Azilah got out of the car and went to speak to the unidentified man in the green cap in the other car. He then came back and went to Altantuya’s side of the car and let her out.
“Azilah and Altantuya spoke briefly. He then led her to the front passenger side of the Vitara, opened the door and she got in. The Vitara then left by taking the exit route out of Bukit Aman,” she said.
Subsequently, she said Azilah went back to his office and she returned home to meet her friends.
She told the court how Azilah had kept calling her when she was out ‘karaokeing’ in Bukit Bintang but she picked him up at Bukit Aman after 12 midnight on Oct 20.
Rohaniza said that she waited for Azilah in her car outside the special police office.
“I waited for him until I fell asleep. I woke when he knocked on my car window and asked me help carry his bags. I noticed he had changed his clothes. I then gave him a lift to Putrajaya,” she said.
Noorin then asked Rohaniza to identify a list of phone logs of calls and text messages between her and Azilah on her three mobile numbers.
Worried about Altantuya’s fate
The Petaling Jaya-based officer said she next saw Azilah after the incident when they went to visit his parents in Sungai Pelek, Sepang. She did not say when this took place.
“He was acting differently when we visited his parents. He’s normally chatty around his parents but he was really quiet at that time.
“I asked him what was wrong and he told me he was anxious because he did not know how Altantuya suddenly went missing,” she said.
Rohaniza said she scolded him and asked for the truth but he remained silent. She then told him that she would check on this matter at the police station.
“I got worried about Altantuya. I got thinking as to what might have happened to her so I made calls to Brickfields and Travers police stations to check if anybody had lodged a report on a foreign national kidnapped or raped,” she said.
It was shortly after this that Noorin disclosed that the prosecution would seek to impeach the witness.
Rohaniza, who is considered a key witness in the trial, was remanded for 14 days last year to facilitate police investigations. She was later released without being charged.
Two police officers - Azilah, and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 35 - are charged with the murder while Abdul Razak, 47 is charged with abetting them.
Prosecutors allege that Abdul Razak and Altantuya met in 2004 and began a whirlwind affair, during which he gave her money.
After they broke up a year later, he allegedly continued to give her money whenever she demanded it. But the payments stopped last year, prompting her to become dissatisfied and travel to Malaysia in October, the prosecution said.
Prosecutors say Abdul Razak planned her killing and ordered two police officers - members of a special unit charged with protecting the country's leaders - to carry it out.
Altantuya was killed by "probable blast-related" injuries in a clearing in Shah Alam after she was driven away from outside Abdul Razak's house in mid-October.

Four areas of contradiction found

When the court hearing the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial resumed after lunch, deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin revealed that star witness Rohaniza Roslan, 29, had changed her story in a number of places.
Noorin said the prosecution team had found at least four areas of contradiction after they had gone through nine pages of Rohaniza’s 16-page witness statement.
The deputy public prosecutor told the court that she had seven more pages to go and are still looking for more areas of contradiction.
With that, Noorin requested for more time to prepare the impeachment application.
High Court judge Mohd Zaki Md Yasin allowed the prosecution's request and adjourned the case.
Decision expected tomorrow
Tomorrow the prosecution will tender whatever evidence they have to impeach the witness and the court will be told the specific contradictions in Rohaniza's testimony today.
The judge is then expected to make a decision after that.
Noorin also told reporters after the trial that a police report would be lodged against Rohaniza for perjury.
Soon after, the investigation officer of Altantuya murder case lodged a report against Rohaniza.
If the impeachment application is allowed, Rohaniza could find herself facing a perjury trial which imposes a maximum term of seven years and a fine if found guilty.
The prosecution could also ask for her contradictory evidence to be expunged from the court records. Her credibility as a witness would also be affected.