Anwar’s defence team finds Saiful’s photo inconsistent with testimony
A photograph of sodomy complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan is now the focus of submissions by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's defence team at his Federal Court hearing today to overturn his conviction.
Anwar's defence team, led by retired Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, had been building a case that Saiful, 29, was not a credible witness.
The defence wants the court to accept the photograph which shows Saiful at Anwar's house after the alleged sodomy on June 26, 2008.
Sri Ram argued that the High Court judge and the Court of Appeal had not considered Saiful's demeanour and conduct in the photograph.
"His demeanour was normal and inconsistent with that of a person who had been violently sodomised the day before."
Sri Ram said Saiful already admitted to being the person in the photo, which showed Anwar and a few people at a tea session.
He argued against the prosecution who said that the maker of the photograph should be called to give evidence. Since Saiful had verified the photo, there was no need to do so, Sri Ram said.
The trial judge, he added, had erred in not admitting the photograph as evidence.
Sri Ram also raised other contradictions in Saiful's evidence, such as the underwear he wore on the day of the alleged sodomy, which was then washed. Yet, Saiful had not washed his anus in order to preserve semen samples as evidence, Sri Ram said.
Saiful had also waited for two days before lodging a police report against Anwar, the defence said.
Sri Ram said the trial judge failed to evaluate critical points in Saiful's evidence, adding that Saiful should have been treated as an accomplice to the crime.
Sri Ram then turned to the doctors who had examined Saiful. He said the first doctor who examined Saiful, a Dr Osman, had not been called to give evidence.
The testimony of subsequent doctors who examined Saiful could not be corroborated and their evidence should not be admissible, he said.
In January 2012, the High Court, following a lengthy trial, acquitted Anwar of the charge after calling for his defence. He was charged with sodomising Saiful at an apartment in Damansara on June 26, 2008.
Anwar, 67, was sentenced to five years' jail by the appellate court but has obtained stay of execution pending the outcome of his appeal in the Federal Court which will be heard today and tomorrow.
A five-member bench is hearing his appeal, led by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria. Others on the bench are Tan Sri Raus Sharif, Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Embong, Tan Srii Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Ramly Ali.
Anwar's defence team is led by Sri Ram, and comprises 14 lawyers. Among them are Ramkarpal Singh, Sangeet Kaur Deo, Zaleha Al-Hayat, Latheefa Koya, N. Surendran, R. Sivarasa and Eric Paulsen.
Earlier, Sri Ram began submissions by outlining problems with the list of exhibits tendered during the trial, focusing on the jelly allegedly used during penetration.
The lubricant was not on the list of exhibits tendered during the trial and neither was it mentioned in Saiful's police report. Sri Ram said the lubricant was also mishandled when the investigating officer gave it back to Saiful instead of keeping it as evidence.
During a short recess, Anwar told reporters waiting outside the court that he was optimistic about an acquittal based on facts and the law.
"I am confident only if there was without political interference," he told reporters when he emerged from the courtroom during a break. – October 28, 2014.
* Reporting contributed by Tarani Palani, The Edge Financial Daily.
