PETALING JAYA: When Roeshan Celestine Gomez stumbled across the abduction of Pastor Raymond Koh on Feb 13, he thought it was a movie shoot.
But when he realised there were no cameras around, the 25-year-old chambering student knew something was not right.
The incident happened as Gomez and his friend were on their way to a crematorium for a funeral.
After the cremation, Gomez called the Kelana Jaya police station to tell them about what he had seen. A police officer told him to make a report, which Roshan did at the station.
“He gave us a few reasons for saying that,” said Gomez at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) inquiry into the disappearance of four people, that began yesterday.
He claimed the officer also told him that such operations had been done before.
Gomez told the inquiry he saw three black-coloured SUVs or MPVs surrounding a silver-coloured car in SS4, Petaling Jaya.
There were several masked men who were covered head to toe in black.
He then saw a struggle ensue between one of the men and the driver of the car, adding that the windscreen of the car was smashed.
He said his friend, who was sitting next to him, pulled out her handphone to record the incident when a man approached them and stood in front of their car.
The man gestured to her to stop recording.
Gomez said he reversed his car and continued towards the crematorium after the convoy of vehicles had moved off.
At the inquiry, several CCTV recordings of Koh’s purported abduction were screened.
Gomez also said that there was one “odd” incident – his car was broken into while he was having dinner at Kota Damansara sometime in June.
His laptop bag, which contained his work notes, a witness statement he prepared for himself and several photocopies of his MyKad, was stolen.
He did not make a report because he thought that it was his own mistake for leaving his bag on the backseat.
However, about a month later, the bag was returned to his home, which is in a gated community.
The bag was lodged on the gate. When he saw it, he hesitated at first because he feared that there might be a bomb in it. An inspection of the bag later found all the contents were intact, with the exception of a plastic file.
“After that, I was more curious. It was odd. Why did they return it?” he said, adding that his family was frightened by the incident and they thought that it was linked to the Pastor Koh case.
Inquiry chairman and Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai said the hearing was neither a criminal nor a civil trial.
The inquiry, conducted as per Section 12(1) of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act, is also looking into the disappearance of social activist Amri Che Mat, Pastor Joshua Hilmi and his wife, Ruth Sitepu, in separate incidents.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/10/20/i-thought-it-was-a-movie-shoot-law-student-says-policeman-told-him-abduction-had-police-ops-trademar/#rAW2pFfF07tpTZ37.99
