KUALA LUMPUR: Seven men accused of involvement in the murder of Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Morais all claimed trial at the KL High Court on Wednesday.
This was the first time the case was heard at the high court and Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah who heard the case has set Feb 25 for the next case mention.
Army pathologist Col K. Kunaseegaran, 52, is charged with abetting in the murder of Kevin under section 109 of the penal code, read together with section 302 of the same Act.
Six people – G. Gunasegaran, 47, R. Dinishwaran, 23, A.K. Thinesh Kumar, 22, M. Viswanath, 25, student S. Nimalan and debt collector S. Ravi Chandran, 44 – are jointly charged with the murder of Kevin between 7am and 8pm from Jalan Dutamas Raya to Jalan USJ 1/6D on Sept 4 last year.They face the mandatory death penalty if convicted under section 302 of the Penal Code.
All seven appeared to be tired and worn out and did not interact with their family members who were present.
As soon as the dates were fixed and the seven were asked to leave the bench, one of the family members rushed over to kiss the arm of an accused while another accused was seen crying.
During the hearing Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Abdul Razak Musa had requested for a joint trial with mechanic A. Murugan who was charged with abetting this murder.
On Jan 6, the Petaling Jaya magistrate’s court ordered Murugan's case to be transferred to the high court.
Murugan was also charged under section 109 of the Penal Code.
The eight accused were defended by Datuk N. Sivananthan, Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent, R.S.N Rayer, M.Manoharan, V.Rajahgobal and R.Tirukumaran while Datuk Simon Sabapathy was holding a watching brief for Datuk Richard Morais.
Morais went missing on Sept 4 after leaving his residence in Menara Duta for work in Putrajaya in a grey Proton Perdana.
His body was discovered cemented in an oil drum on Sept 16, which was dumped into a swampy area in Subang Jaya near here.
