Jailed for hiding Morais’ body
KUALA LUMPUR: The second accused charged with murdering Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais has been sentenced to two years’ jail by a Sessions Court for hiding the former deputy public prosecutor's body and disposing of his car.
Judge Azian Othman meted out the sentence against G. Gunasekaran, 48, after he pleaded guilty to the charge yesterday.
With the guilty plea, Gunasekaran was acquitted by the High Court trying the murder case yesterday.
He is expected to testify as the 54th prosecution witness today.
The Sessions Court judge ordered Gunasekaran to serve the sentence from the day he was arrested – Sept 15 last year.
At the High Court, Gunasekaran was initially jointly charged with S. Ravi Chandaran, 45, and S. Nimalan, 43, with the intent to hide the body and dispose of the car to prevent Ravi Chandaran, S. Nimalan, A.K. Thinesh Kumar, 26, M. Vishwanath, 26, R. Dinishwaran, 24, and army pathologist Kol Dr K. Kunaseegaran, 53, from being punished under the law.
Gunasekaran had admitted to committing the offence between Jalan Dutamas 1 here and the Kampung Sungai Samak oil palm plantation in Hutan Melintang, Hilir Perak, between 7am on Sept 4 and 2am on Sept 5 last year.
Earlier in mitigation, Gunasekaran’s counsel S. Ramesh said his client was a mechanical engineering graduate and did not kill Morais, but only disposed of the body after the victim died.
Ramesh said Gunasekaran did not personally know Morais and regretted his action.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Saiful Hazmi Mohd Saad urged the court to mete out a deterrent sentence instead.
The statement of facts presented to court yesterday stated that the accused had known Ravi Chandaran for 20 years and the latter had introduced him to Dr Kunaseegaran.
According to the facts sheet, Gunasekaran was also close to Dr Kunaseegaran.
It stated that Dr Kunaseegaran had once told him about a court case he was facing and that Morais’ action of increasing the number of charges levelled against him had caused him to incur a huge sum in legal fees.
It also noted that on Sept 3 last year, Ravi Chandaran asked Gunasekaran to meet him at a restaurant in Petaling Jaya, where the latter was then introduced to Dinishwaran, Thinesh Kumar, Vishwanath and Nimalan.
Gunasekaran said the next day, Ravi Chandaran told him to collect money from Morais and that they both needed to catch Morais while he was on his way to work, the statement said.
Gunasekaran agreed to go with Ravi Chandaran as he did not own a car.
Both of them followed the Proton Perdana driven by Morais and when the DPP stopped at a road shoulder, Ravi Chandaran got out from the car.
Gunasekaran said he then drove to the restaurant.
On the same day, according to the statement of facts, Gunasekaran was told to buy a drum and fill it with concrete.
As he was pouring the concrete into the drum, he saw a gunny sack containing Morais’ body in it.
KUALA LUMPUR: The second accused charged with murdering Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais has been sentenced to two years’ jail by a Sessions Court for hiding the former deputy public prosecutor's body and disposing of his car.
Judge Azian Othman meted out the sentence against G. Gunasekaran, 48, after he pleaded guilty to the charge yesterday.
With the guilty plea, Gunasekaran was acquitted by the High Court trying the murder case yesterday.
He is expected to testify as the 54th prosecution witness today.
The Sessions Court judge ordered Gunasekaran to serve the sentence from the day he was arrested – Sept 15 last year.
At the High Court, Gunasekaran was initially jointly charged with S. Ravi Chandaran, 45, and S. Nimalan, 43, with the intent to hide the body and dispose of the car to prevent Ravi Chandaran, S. Nimalan, A.K. Thinesh Kumar, 26, M. Vishwanath, 26, R. Dinishwaran, 24, and army pathologist Kol Dr K. Kunaseegaran, 53, from being punished under the law.
Gunasekaran had admitted to committing the offence between Jalan Dutamas 1 here and the Kampung Sungai Samak oil palm plantation in Hutan Melintang, Hilir Perak, between 7am on Sept 4 and 2am on Sept 5 last year.
Earlier in mitigation, Gunasekaran’s counsel S. Ramesh said his client was a mechanical engineering graduate and did not kill Morais, but only disposed of the body after the victim died.
Ramesh said Gunasekaran did not personally know Morais and regretted his action.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Saiful Hazmi Mohd Saad urged the court to mete out a deterrent sentence instead.
The statement of facts presented to court yesterday stated that the accused had known Ravi Chandaran for 20 years and the latter had introduced him to Dr Kunaseegaran.
According to the facts sheet, Gunasekaran was also close to Dr Kunaseegaran.
It stated that Dr Kunaseegaran had once told him about a court case he was facing and that Morais’ action of increasing the number of charges levelled against him had caused him to incur a huge sum in legal fees.
It also noted that on Sept 3 last year, Ravi Chandaran asked Gunasekaran to meet him at a restaurant in Petaling Jaya, where the latter was then introduced to Dinishwaran, Thinesh Kumar, Vishwanath and Nimalan.
Gunasekaran said the next day, Ravi Chandaran told him to collect money from Morais and that they both needed to catch Morais while he was on his way to work, the statement said.
Gunasekaran agreed to go with Ravi Chandaran as he did not own a car.
Both of them followed the Proton Perdana driven by Morais and when the DPP stopped at a road shoulder, Ravi Chandaran got out from the car.
Gunasekaran said he then drove to the restaurant.
On the same day, according to the statement of facts, Gunasekaran was told to buy a drum and fill it with concrete.
As he was pouring the concrete into the drum, he saw a gunny sack containing Morais’ body in it.
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