Ex-AG explains why he filed appeal in maid murder case

 

Housewife S Ambika, 62, was acquitted by the High Court in Penang in 2019. A prosecution appeal to substitute the acquittal with a conditional discharge failed at the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Former attorney-general Tommy Thomas said today that a difference of professional opinion had led him to file an appeal against the acquittal of a senior citizen accused of the murder of her Indonesian maid.

The verdict to free senior citizen S Ambika of the murder of Adelina Lisao, 28, aroused great public interest as the decision came despite the prosecution having requested that Ambika be granted only a conditional discharge.

Thomas said today he took a different view from that held by then solicitor-general Hanafiah Zakaria.

Thomas was reported to have said in 2019 that he had not been consulted about the decision to apply for a conditional discharge.

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He said today that when the case aroused great public interest, he looked into it “and I came to a different conclusion” from the prosecution officers who had handled the case.

“Why did I decide to appeal? That tells you the charm of the law, there is a lot of discretion on lawyers and judges. If you ask 10 lawyers, you’ll get 20 opinions and it’s difficult to say who is right and who is wrong. A lot of it is judgment,” he said at a book launch event today.

After Ambika was acquitted, an appeal was later filed on the instructions of the Attorney-General for the acquittal to be replaced by a conditional discharge. But the appeal failed at the Court of Appeal and a further appeal to the Federal Court resulted last month in the acquittal being upheld.

On June 25, former prime minister Najib Razak urged Thomas to explain why the prosecution had requested a conditional discharge. Najib said the Federal Court said the prosecution had not given its reason at the High Court when it made the request for the conditional discharge.

Thomas was asked today if pressure from Indonesia had played a part in his decision to file an appeal. He said there was “no such pressure from anybody”.

Last month, Hanafiah said in an interview with Malaysiakini that he had instructed the prosecution officers in Penang to apply for conditional discharge and then consider other charges that could be levelled against a member of the accused’s family.

Asked about whether Thomas was kept in the dark over the proposal to apply for a conditional discharge, Hanafiah said Thomas was unhappy because of backlash from the Indonesian embassy. - FMT