By Nurbaiti Hamdan | The Star
The Federal Court has asked the defence in the murder appeal of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya to obtain court recordings of the High Court judgment.
This is following an application by the defence that applied for the written judgment by the lower court, which was read out by High Court judge Justice Akhtar Tahir in open court during the decision day, to be included in the final appeal record.
Lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad told reporters there were discrepancies in the final record of appeal and the copies of the written judgment that were handed out to the parties involved on the actual decision date on April 30, 2012.
“We want it (the initial judgment) to be part of the final appeal record so that all parties can make a comparison,” he said when met outside the court room here yesterday.
Last Monday, lawyer Manjit Singh Dhillon submitted before the apex court that the differences in the two documents were “significant” as the redactions done were neither spelling nor grammar changes.
He argued the comparison between the two documents revealed a disturbing state of affairs and a judicial mind that had been biased and prejudiced by events that had taken place in court.
In May 2013, Justice Akhtar found former lawyer N. Pathmanabhan and farm hands T. Thilaiyalagan, R. Matan and R. Kathavarayan guilty of the murder of Sosilawati and three others.
In December last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of the four men.
The men are appealing against the Court of Appeal’s decision.
The hearing continues today.
