Kuala Lumpur: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s semen was found in the body of his former private assistant, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
The opening statement by Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden kicked off the sodomy trial in a packed courtroom at the High Court yesterday.
The prosecution then called its first witness, Saiful, who testified that he used the codename, “Mokhtar”, each time he went to the plush Bukit Damansara condominium.
Speaking in a low voice, Saiful, 25, began to give a blow-by-blow account of what transpired in the afternoon of June 26, 2008.
His testimony, however, was stopped at the point where he was telling the court how Anwar hugged him in a room at the condo unit.
Further testimony on what transpired in the room will be heard in camera today.
Earlier, the witness said he arrived at the condominium at 2.45pm that day to meet Anwar. Saiful was Anwar’s private assistant for four months until he resigned the next day.
Saiful said he sent Anwar an email informing him he wanted to resign, citing the reason that he was not willing to be “used by Anwar any longer”.
On the day of the alleged sodomy, Saiful said he went to the condominium to hand over documents which were given to him by someone on Anwar’s staff, identified as Ibrahim Yaacob.
“We were supposed to discuss work-related matters,” he told the court.
Saiful said he stopped his van at the security post and said the codename, “Mokhtar”, to the guards before being allowed in.
“This was what I was told to say every time I went to the
condominium,” he said when examined by Yusof who is leading the prosecution team.
He parked the vehicle and took the lift to unit 11-5-1.
Yusof: What happened then?
Saiful: The door to the condominium was not locked and I removed my shoes before entering.
Yusof: Who did you see?
Saiful: Anwar. He was seated at a dining table in the living room.
Yusof: What did you do?
Saiful: I sat on a chair at the same table.
The witness said he handed over the documents to Anwar, discussed their work schedule before Anwar asked him a direct question.
Yusof: What was the question?
Saiful: Anwar asked, “Can I **** you today?”
Yusof: What did you feel?
Saiful: Angry and frightened.
Yusof: What did you say?
Saiful: I told him that I was not prepared to do it.
The witness testified that Anwar was angry and ordered him to go into the bedroom.
Saiful said he complied.
In the bedroom, Anwar allegedly drew the curtains, shut the door and switched off the lights, but the room was not in total darkness.
Yusof: What happened there?
Saiful: I was instructed to go to the washroom and clean myself. I later came out wearing a towel.
Anwar, he said, was also in a white towel, standing at the
edge of the bed.
“He then asked me to come to him, and hugged me,” he said.
At this juncture, Anwar’s lead defence counsel Karpal Singh applied to the court that the rest of Saiful’s testimony be heard in camera.
Yusof objected, saying a public hearing was provided for under Section 15 of the Courts of Judicature Act.
Judge Datuk Mohamed Zabidin Mohd Diah, however, ruled that the courtroom would be cleared and proceedings today would be heard in private.
This means that Saiful’s testimony would only be heard in the presence of the judge, prosecution, defence and court officials.
***News from New Strait Times (NST)
No comments:
Post a Comment