... APPELLANT
AND
PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
... RESPONDENT
CORAM:
ROHANA YUSUF, JCA
IDRUS HARUN, JCA
ZAMANI A RAHIM, JCA
JUDGMENT
Introduction
[1]
Basah bin Bakhtiar @ Johan, the appellant, was charged in the High
Court at Sandakan, Sabah with the murder of one Hung Wai Tong,
(the deceased) on 30.9.2009, at about 12.10 am at a roadside at
Kampung Pukat, Bandar Nam Tung, Sandakan, an offence under
section 302 of the Penal Code. The charge reads as follows:
The Charge
That you, 30th day of September 2009, at about 12.10 am, at a roadside,
Kampung Pukat, Bandar Nam Tung, in the District of Sandakan, in the
State of Sabah did commit murder by causing the death of one Hung Wai
Tong, I/C No. 580714-12-5619 and that you have thereby committed an
offence punishable under section 302 of the Penal Code.
the deceased closed the Hsiang Garden coffee shop where both of them
were working. When PW5 was about to leave the coffee shop, the
appellant approached her. The appellant requested for a lift to a place
called Tanah Merah. PW5 and the appellant entered the car. PW5 took
the front passenger seat, next to the deceased. The deceased was the
driver of the car. The appellant took the back seat, behind the deceased.
The deceased drove the car towards Tanah Merah.
[3]
While in the car, the appellant changed his mind twice. He did not
wish to get down from the car at a place called Pappillion and also at the
first roundabout. At the request of the appellant, the car was driven to
the second roundabout. Before reaching it, the appellant informed the
deceased and PW5 that he wanted to get down the car. The deceased
then slowed down the car to stop. At this juncture, the appellant
suddenly grabbed the deceaseds face with his left hand from behind the
drivers seat. The deceased was struggling to liberate himself. The
deceased used both of his hands to free himself, so much so that he had to
release his grip on the steering wheel of the car.
[4]
angrily so that he would release his grip on the deceaseds face. At the
same time, she yelled and cursed the appellant. In response, the
deceased asked PW5 to run away from the car.
[5]
The car finally crashed into the bushes at the left side of the road.
The appellant released his grip on the deceaseds face. The appellant
threatened PW5 not to tell anyone of the incident, otherwise her family
could suffer the same fate as the deceased. PW5 then asked the
appellant Kenapa kau buat kami begini, apa salah kami? The
appellant did not reply. He remained silence. PW5 cried for help. The
deceased had leaned towards her. She noticed the deceaseds neck
was bleeding. PW5 hugged the deceased and pleaded him to wake up,
but no response.
[6]
door via the rear of the car. He attempted to open the door of the car.
She locked the doors of the car from inside. The appellant could not
open the door. She screamed for help. The appellant fled from the car.
[7]
PW5 came out of the car and cried for help. A motorcyclist and his
pillion rider, Constable Mohammad Firdaus bin Usop (PW6) passed by.
PW6 noticed the crashed car and a man was running away from the said
car. PW6 identified the appellant as the escapee at an identification
parade. PW6 met PW5 who informed him that the man (appellant) who
ran away had stabbed her boyfriend (the deceased). PW6 then
informed the police station of the accident (car crashed). In the
meantime, PW5 received the call from the appellant who warned her not
to tell anyone, otherwise her child would be killed. She was scared.
[8]
body by Dr. Jessie Hin @ Jessie Dorey Hin Chen Chen, (PW7). A postmortem report was issued as exhibit P10. On external examination of
the deceaseds body, PW7 found the following injuries:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
[10] PW7 had confirmed that the cause of death was due to excessive
loss of blood due to the cut on the right carotid artery and the right
jugular vein caused by the stab wound on the medial aspect of the right
shoulder. PW7 also concluded that the stab wound was the only fatal
injury. The conjunctivae of the deceased eyes and the internal organs
were pale indicating loss of blood.
[11] PW7 further explained that the stab wound was fatal and there
was no chance of survival. PW7 opined that the injuries suffered by the
deceased was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
[12] As part of police investigation, an identification parade was
conducted by Insp. Yau Wai Peng, PW4. PW5 had identified the
appellant as the person who had murdered the deceased, whilst PW6
had identified the appellant as the person who had run away from the
the scene of crime. At any rate, PW5 and PW6 had identified the
appellant in court in the course of giving evidence in the trial. This is
known as dock identification.
Findings Of The Trial Judge At The Close Of The Prosecutions
Case
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
explanation
was
reasonable
and
accepted
her
explanation;
(5)
Defence Case
[13] The appellant testified on oath. He came from Zamboanga, the
Phillipines. He was a married man with 3 children - a daughter aged 18
years, two sons aged 12 years and 6 years respectively. He came from
a poor family. He was a farmer.
[14] The appellant and his family moved to Sandakan illegally. At first
they lived at Batu 16 and a year later they moved to Bandar Leila. This
was in 1997. He was a fishmonger in Sandakan market. He obtained
the fish supply from the boat daily at about 2.00 am and sold the fish at
Sandakan market until 4.00 pm.
[15] He went to bed at about 10.00 pm daily as he had to wake up at
about 2.00 am to go and buy the fish.
[16] The appellant did not know PW5. He had only seen PW5 once.
He had no intimate relationship with PW5.
[17] The appellant could not remember his whereabouts on 30.9.2009
at about 12.10 am (the time stated in the charge). Normally he was
asleep at about 12.10 am. At about 2.00 am, he woke up and went to
buy fish.
[18] He denied that he was at the scene of the crime on 30.9.2009.
[19] The appellants second witness was his wife, Nasira Abdullah
Sakilan, DW2. She worked as an operator at a factory, Inovwood Sdn
Bhd. She could not remember her whereabouts on 30.9.2009 between
12.00 midnight to 2.00 am.
[20] DW2 was a hopeless witness for the defence. In examination-inchief, DW2 was asked and she answered as follows:
Q1258
Setuju
Setuju
Q1261
Q1262
[22] The third witness called by the defence was Zaidi bin Sudin, DW3.
On the night of the murder, DW3 was riding a motorcycle with Firdaus.
At Karamunting petrol station, DW3 took over from Firdaus as the rider
of the motorcycle. DW3 noticed a male was running. He then lost sight
of him. He could not identify him.
Findings Of The Trial Judge At The Conclusion Of The Trial
(1)
(3)
(4)
The trial judge found the evidence of the appellant, DW2 and
DW3 had not cast any reasonable doubt on the prosecutions
case. The prosecution, therefore, had proved its case
against the appellant beyond reasonable doubt. He was
found guilty, convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.
The Appeal
[23] Learned counsel for the appellant had advanced two issues before
us. Firstly, the credibility of PW5 was questionable as there was a
serious discrepancy between her evidence in court and her police report
ie, Sandakan Report No. 12330/09, exhibit P8.
[24] Secondly, the identity of the appellant as the murderer of the
deceased was not satisfactory. The identification evidence by PW6 that
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the appellant was the person absconding from the scene of the murder
was doubtful. Thus, learned counsel invited us to discharge and acquit
the appellant of the charge.
Our Decision
[25] The prosecutions case is solely dependent on one eye witness,
PW5 who witnessed the murder of the deceased by the appellant. PW5
was said to be unreliable witness. This was untrue. PW5 had
extensively narrated the events on the night in question which was
reproduced by the trial judge in his judgment at paragraphs 6 to 10 at pp
221-224 of the Appeal Record, Vol. 1.
[26] However, PW5 readily admitted that there was a discrepancy
between her evidence in court and the contents in her police report,
exhibit P8. In court, PW5 said that the appellant was all the time with
her and the deceased, when they left the Hsiang Garden coffee shop.
However, in exhibit P8, PW5 reported that Apabila kereta kami
sampai di kawasan depan UMW Toyota, seorang lelaki Melayu
umur dalam lingkungan 40an telah menahan kereta kami.
[27] In his examination-in-chief at p.68 of Appeal Record, Vol. 1, PW5
conceded that she lied when she lodged exhibit P8. The reason being
that she was in fear when the appellant threatened to harm her and her
child. PW5 said saya takut Johan ataupun Basah bin Bakhtiar
membunuh anak saya.
[28] It was in evidence that the appellant had threatened her twice.
The first time he threatened her in the car, right after the murder when
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the appellant uttered the words Kalau kau tunjuk aku, aku bunuh
juga keluarga kau macam ini. PW5 was threatened by the appellant
the second time when the latter called on her handphone and said
Jangan kau cakap saya yang buat, jangan kau tunjuk aku, kalau
tidak anak mu aku bunuh.
[29] Because of the threats alluded above, PW5 was too scared to tell
that the appellant was in her company in the car from the Hsiang Garden
coffee shop. That was why PW5 stated in her police report, in exhibit P8
that they gave a lift to a Malay man who stopped their car in front of
UMW Toyota.
[30] Be that as it may, the rest of her report was true. PW5s fear,
however, had disappeared when the appellant was arrested. Having
learned that the appellant was captured, PW5 informed PW8 that part of
her police report, exhibit P8 as alluded in paragraph 26 above was a lie.
PW5 voluntarily informed PW8 without any prompting. She had
succintly explained to the court the discrepancy between her testimony
in court and her police report, exhibit P8. The explanation was accepted
by the trial judge.
[31] As regards the blood stain of the deceased which was not found
on PW5s clothing, the evidence disclosed as follows. She sat on the
front passenger seat on the left of the deceased (driver). The appellant
was grabbing the deceaseds face. The deceased struggled. Then the
deceaseds tilted onto her right shoulder. The deceased was injured and
bleeding on the right side of his neck. She hugged the deceased. Her
clothing was stained with the blood. While on the way to the police
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[33] It is trite law that the appellate court is slow to disturb the finding of
credibility of a witness, as the trial judge in this case, because His
Lordship had an audio visual advantage of seeing and hearing the
witness, that is, PW5.
[34] The next issue advanced by the defence was the evidence of
identification of the appellant. PW5 testified that it was the appellant
who killed the deceased in the car. The identification of the appellant in
the identification parade as the killer was satisfactory. Again PW5
identified the appellant in the course of the trial by way of a dock
identification. It would appear that the identification of the appellant in
the identification parade was superfluous as the appellant was familiar
and recognised by PW5. PW5 had known the appellant for 3 months
prior to the murder of the deceased. PW5 knew the appellant as
Johan.
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[36] However, learned counsel had submitted that the trial judge ought
to be prudent with the identification evidence of PW6. His Lordship
ought to test PW6s identification evidence with prudence and accepted it
only when it was so highly probable that its truth can safely be accepted.
The test excludes from its orbit blind faith of a true believer, because
prudence and credulity do not go together: per Raja Azlan Shah J (as
his Majesty then was) in K.S. Roberts v. PP [1970] 2 MLJ 137.
Moreover an honest witness may make mistake on identity.
[37] On the issue of identification, it is pertinent at this stage to refer to
the case of Arumugam Muthusamy v. PP [1998] 3 CLJ 592 where two
questions of identification evidence were brought to the Federal Court
under reference. The facts are these. The applicant was convicted for
theft of a motorcar and was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment. In
convicting the applicant, the trial Magistrate had relied, inter alia, on the
14
evidence of PW1 and PW2 who identified the applicant from the dock.
The trial Magistrate was of the view that the dock identification evidence
was sufficient. The trial Magistrate did not warn herself of an
uncorroborated evidence of identity as postulated in R v. Turnbull
guidelines, thus occasioned a clear miscarriage of justice. The trial
Magistrates finding and conviction was affirmed by the High Court.
Following this, two questions of identification evidence were raised in the
reference to the Federal Court as follows:
(1)
(2)
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[39] A dock identification of the accused for the first time in court at the
trial is undesirable. It is a good practice to hold an identification parade.
To require identification parade in all circumstances is too stringent.
[40] Therefore, the answer to Question 1 depends on the particular
facts and circumstances of each case.
[41] As regard Question 2, the presence of the words whether,
resulting in a conviction, being quashed, would constitute a
substantial miscarriage of justice, the answer is clearly that such a
conviction would not constitute a substantial miscarriage of justice.
[42] In this case, as found by the trial judge, PW6 had seen the
appellants face clearly on the night of the incident. He identified the
appellant at the identification parade and at the trial in court. The crime
was perpetrated by the road side in the midnight on 30.9.2009 at
Kampung Pukat, Jalan Pasir Puteh. The scene of crime was bright from
street light. PW6 had accosted the appellant. Both of them stopped. He
talked with the appellant for about one minute. He asked the appellant
what had happened. However, the appellant did not reply. He remained
silent. PW6 did not see the appellant in a splitting glance under pressing
circumstances or his view of the appellant was blocked. This is not the
evidence of visual identification as envisaged in the R v. Turnbull.
Therefore, the R v. Turnbull guidelines do not apply.
[43] The appellant was arrested a mere two days after the murder
which occurred on 2.10.2009. Then he was detained in the lockup at
Balai Polis Sandakan. Before PW6 identified the appellant in
identification parade, he was on duty as a lockup sentry at all material
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times. The lockup sentry was stationed in the charge room where a list
was posted in the said room. The list contained among others, the name
of the detainees, the sections of the law under which the detainees were
detained, their police report numbers and the names of the investigating
officer (I.O). PW6 knew that the appellant was arrested and detained in
the said lockup. PW6, too, knew that ASP Naaem was the I.O of the
appellants case.
[44] The identification parade was held on 7.10.2009, that is, 5 days
after the appellants arrest. At the risk of repetition, PW6 identified the
appellant. It was not a long lapse of time after the murder. The
appellants face was still fresh in PW6s mind. It is pertinent to reproduce
the relevant questions and answers relating to this issue during an
examination-in-chief of PW6. This is found in p.115 of the Appeal
Record, Vol. 1 as follows:
Q686 :
Ya
Q687 :
Q688 :
17
[45] As can be seen from the answer to Q689 in bold above, PW6 was
able to identify the appellant on both occasions firstly, at the scene of
the crime at Jalan Pasir Puteh and secondly, while on duty at the lockup
where the appellant was detained. The identification of the appellant by
PW6 in the identity parade was good, satisfactory and safe to rely upon.
Having sight of the appellant in the lockup by PW6, it was not a pre-plan,
a collusion or deliberate. PW6 saw him in the lockup due to the
exigencies of his duty as a lockup sentry. He further identified the
appellant in court which corroborated his identification of the appellant
in the identification parade.
[46] The ability of PW6 to identify the appellant as the man who ran
away from the scene of the murder soon after the murder, coupled with
the evidence of PW5 who positively identified the appellant as the man
who stabbed the deceased, had satisfactorily proved the identity of the
appellant as the murderer beyond any reasonable doubt. We see no
cogent reasons to interfere with the decision of the trial judge on this
issue.
[47] Further, PW5s evidence that the appellant was the assailant was
supported by the evidence of PW6. When PW6 met PW5 at the scene of
crime, PW5 straight away told PW6 that the person who ran away was the
man who stabbed her boyfriend (the deceased). In this respect, the
supportive evidence of PW6 lend credence to PW5s evidence. PW6
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[48] To put the other way, PW6 agreed that PW5 had informed him at
the scene of crime that the man who ran away from the scene had
stabbed her boyfriend (the deceased). Thus, the credibility of PW5
implicating the appellant was fortified by the evidence of PW6.
[49] The contemporaneous conduct of the appellant who ran away after
stabbing the deceased was relevant and admissible by virtue of section 8
of the Evidence Act 1950. We are aware that in a number of cases it has
been said that absconding from the scene is not in itself evidence of
guilt. The editors of Sarkars Law of Evidence (15 th Ed) have this to
say:
Mere absconding by itself does not necessarily lead to a firm conclusion
of guilty mind. The act is a relevant piece of evidence to be considered
along with other evidence but its value would depend upon the
circumstances of each case.
[50] In this case, the appellants conduct of absconding from the scene
was not the sole evidence indicating his guilt. There are other
19
(ZAMANI A RAHIM)
Judge
Court of Appeal
Malaysia
20
Counsel:
For the appellant - Sharatha Masyaroh John Ridwan Lincon; M/s
Lincon & Co
Advocates & Solicitors,
Lot 83A, 1 s t Floor, Block D1,
Lorong BU 8/1,
Utama Place, Bandar Utama,
Mile 6, Jalan Utara,
90000 Sandakan,
Sabah.
For the respondent - Norinna Bahadun, Deputy Public Prosecutor,
The Attorney Generals Chambers
No. 45 Persiaran Perdana,
62100 Putrajaya.
Case(s) referred to:
Vasan Singh v. PP [1979] 2 CLJ 402
KS Roberts v. PP [1970] 2 MLJ 137
Arumugam Muthusamy v. PP [1998] 3 CLJ 592
R v. Redpath [1962] 46 Cr App R 319
Legislation referred to:
Criminal Procedure Code, s. 402A
Evidence Act 1950, s. 8
Penal Code, s. 302
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