Prosecution ‘hit nail in the coffin’ in Nhaveen trial, says defence

 

Defence counsel Naran Singh (centre), S Yagoo (left) and Maanveer Singh Dhillon outside the High Court in George Town.

GEORGE TOWN: The defence in the T Nhaveen murder trial contends that the prosecution has “hit the nail in the coffin” in its own case after the prime prosecution witness admitted that a police report he made last year was “false”.

Arguing that the credibility of witness T Previin, 23, must be impeached, lead defence counsel Naran Singh said the witness himself admitted that the report he made was false.

“Previin was never in Padang Openg where the alleged brawl took place. And the claim that the five accused were there was also cooked up.

“These claims were made four years after the incident, in a police report. The report was later deemed false by Previin in court. This has hit the nail in the coffin in the prosecution’s case,” he told the High Court here.

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T Nhaveen.

Naran then went on to present a table of Previin’s contradictory statements to the court, which judge Radzi Abdul Hamid had asked for yesterday.

However, Radzi said the table was not drawn up in accordance with his instructions to Naran.

“(You have not) separated the statements concerning the contradictions (according to the) three questions: The first was whether they went to Padang Openg, the second (relates to) the accused presence on the field and the third, was what each person did.

“You should sort out the statements according to these three questions. Then it would be easier for us to see,” he said.

Naran then asked the court to allow him more time to comply with the court’s instructions, which the judge allowed.

Radzi vacated tomorrow’s date and set Dec 12 to 14, and Jan 26 to 27, 2023 for the next leg of the trial.

Five people have been charged with murder in connection with 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.

Deputy public prosecutor Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim and Muna Jaafar prosecuted, while S Yagoo and Maanveer Singh Dhillon also represented the accused.

Sukhindarpal Singh held a watching brief for the Bar Council while K Muthiah held a watching brief for Suhakam. - FMT