A Bukit Aman police chief told the High Court that he had arrested three police officers at the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) office in Lahad Datu, Sabah, in connection with the killing of email driver Nurman Bakaratu.
Nazmi Zulkafli, 33, of the D14 Organized Crime Investigation Unit, said they arrested Rosdi Rastam and Khairul Azman Bakar at 5:25pm on January 25 last year, while John Kennedy Sanggah was arrested at 3pm. :30 pm later. The 16th witness testified that he went to the Esscom office with his team to meet the suspects. “I introduced myself as a police officer and showed my license card. I then asked the suspects to produce their identity documents. After I found out that these people are really the people we are looking for, I did an autopsy and took their phones.
“They were arrested under Section 302 of the Penal Code and taken to Tawau Police Headquarters for further investigation,” he said. The witness said this during an interview by Deputy Public Prosecutor Fakhrurrazi Ahmad on the sixth day of the trial of eight people, including former Esscom Chief of Staff (Intelligence) Mat Zaki Zain, accused of murdering the driver started using email early last year.
The other accused are six police officers – Rosdi, 45, Denis Anit, 45, Fabian Rungam, 44, Khairul, 47, Azlan Sakaran, 40, and Sanggah, 44 – and a civilian, Vivien Fabian, 34. They are accused of killing Nurman at an oil palm plantation near Jalan Anjur Juara, Jalan Apas Baru 5, here between 7:30 pm and 11:30 p.m. on January 13 of last year.
The charge, which is laid down under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read in Section 34 of the same law, carries the death penalty upon conviction. Mat Zaki, 59, faces two charges of conspiracy to kill Nurman, based on Article 109 of the Penal Code read with Article 302 of the same code.
Meanwhile, when questioned by lawyer Ram Singh, who represented Mat Zaki and two other accused persons, the witness denied that the three persons were arrested for alleged involvement in organized crime. “I am not in Sabah for organized crime cases,” the witness said.
The trial before Judge Duncan Sikodol continues
