GEORGE TOWN: The defence in T Nhaveen’s murder trial is now seeking to impeach the credibility of a key witness following “conflicting statements” made by him.
Lead defence counsel Naran Singh told the High Court that the inconsistency in the evidence of T Previin, 23, lay in the immediate events before and after Nhaveen was fatally bashed up five years ago.
He said a glaring example of this inconsistency was Previin’s statement to the police after the incident and his testimony in court.
Naran suggested in court today that the latter had cooked up a story upon the urging of activist Arun Doraisamy. Previin, however, denied this.
Naran suggested that Previin had never witnessed Nhaveen getting beat up from the back of a tree, as he had earlier testified. He said such a significant moment had been left out in his first police report and, subsequently, from a cautioned statement given to the police.
He said Previin’s cautioned statement claimed that he had gone back to his Bukit Gelugor home after the incident. Later, in another police report in the same month, he claimed that he had gone to Nhaveen’s house after the incident.
However, Naran said, in court, Previin had testified that he had gone in search of adults to help stop the brawl.
Naran said the number of persons involved in the melee was also inconsistent, ranging from four to 20 persons in different police reports and in court testimony.
“You are lying, you were not at the field where the incident took place. You are making up an MGR story, running from tree to tree, it is amazing,” Naran said in reference to the late Tamil actor MG Ramachandran.
He then applied to impeach the credibility of Previin.
Deputy public prosecutor Amril Johari interjected to say that Naran could not impeach Previin based on a cautioned statement but only on what was said in court.
Naran said Section 155 (c) of the Evidence Act 1950 stated that any former statements could be construed as a contradiction in considering the impeachment of a witness.
Judge Radzi Abdul Hamid said he would decide tomorrow if only evidence from the examination-in-chief and cross-examination could be used in asking for a witness to be impeached. He adjourned the trial to tomorrow morning.
Five people are charged with murder in Nhaveen’s death. They are S Gopinaath, 30, J Ragesuthan, 22, S Gokulan, 22, and two other unnamed persons who were juveniles when the offence took place.
They are accused of committing the offence at the Jalan Bunga Raya park between 11pm and midnight on June 9, 2017.
The five are also charged with committing grievous assault on Previin near the Karpal Singh Learning Centre in Bukit Gelugor that night.
Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim also prosecuted, while Yagoo Subramaniam and Maanveer Singh Dhillon also represented the accused.
Sukhindarpal Singh held a watching brief for the Bar Council, while Muthiah Karupaya held a watching brief for Suhakam. - FMT
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