PUTRAJAYA, Jan 5 – The Court of Appeal today set May 17 to hear the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal of businessman Koh Kim Teck and his two bodyguards on a charge of murdering a 14-year-old Chinese teenager in 2004.
The appeal had been postponed several times because Koh, 58, failed to appear in court after their acquittal on Sept 20, 2005.
On Aug 24, 2008, the Court of Appeal issued a warrant of arrest for Koh over his failure to turn up for the appeal hearing.
Today, Justice Datuk Suriyadi Halim Omar, who sat with Justices Datuk Hassan Lah and Datuk Ahmad Maarop, also set the same date to hear two motions filed by the bodyguards, Resty Agpalo, 40, and Mohamad Najib Zulkifli, 32, in the appeal.
The two bodyguards were present in court.
“The first motion is an application to adduce further evidence at the appeal stage and the second is an application to strike out the prosecution’s appeal on the ground of abuse of the court process,” counsel Gobind Singh Deo, for Resty and Mohamad Najib, told the court.
The hearing of the prosecution’s appeal was originally set for March 14, 2007, and postponed several times as Koh failed to turn up in court on Oct 30, 2007 and March 12, 2008.
The three were acquitted and discharged by the High Court on Sept 20, 2005, on a charge of murdering Xu Jian Huang without their defence being called.
High Court Judge Datuk Abdul Kadir Musa had ruled that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case and there were unresolved doubts and unanswered questions in the prosecution’s case.
They were accused of murdering Xu, then a student of Mutiara Grammar International School, at a bungalow in Jalan Mengkuang, off Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, between 11pm on Sept 26, 2004 and 3.30am the next day.
Koh was represented by counsel Datuk V. Sithambaram while Deputy Public Prosecutor Ishak Yusof appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama
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