17 acquitted over temple riot

PETALING JAYA: A group of 17 men has been acquitted by a Magistrate’s Court here over the Sri Maha Mariamman temple riot in Seafield near here five years ago.

Magistrate Muhammad Iskandar Zainol made the order of discharge and acquittal at the end of the prosecution’s case after finding the prosecution had failed to prove the elements of the charge against the men.

The 17 are Saifullah Abdullah, Muhammad Riduan Sekh Ruslan, Irwan Noordin, Mohamad Khairi Abdul Rashid, Rozaihan Zakaria, Muhammad Qayyum Mohd Faisal, Mohd Ashraf Mohd Faizal, Absal Eastrie Abdullah, Mohamed Jalil Talib, Muhammad Khairol Anuar Zabidi, Mohd Zamri Md Said, Shukri Razali, Nor Azmi Abdul Ghani, Mohammad Shahril Danniel Sajeel, Muhammad Hasneezam Shah Samsudin, Akmal Izzat Azi and Mohd Norul Ismawi Islahuddin.

According to lawyer Kirthiraj Rajasundram, who represented Saifullah, the men were freed without their defence being called.

He said the magistrate found that the witnesses had failed to identify the accused involved as the incident happened early in the morning.

“There was no positive identification and the witness statements were unreliable and inconsistent,” Kirthiraj told the press yesterday.

He said no forensics reports on the weapon were tendered to the court.

“The prosecution also did not tender any weapon in court as an exhibit, such as a knife, as stated in the charge sheet.

“All the weapons were merely collected from the scene by the witnesses and not seized from the accused persons,” he said.

The men – aged between 24 and 47 – were charged with rioting and possessing dangerous weapons between 2am and 5am on Nov 26, 2018.

They were charged under Section 148 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both upon conviction.In November 2018, a group of men were arrested during the riot at a temple in Seafield, Subang Jaya.

It was reported that the riot saw 18 cars and two motorcycles burnt as protesters gathered near the temple.

The incident was believed to have been sparked by the fracas between two opposing groups over the relocation of the temple to USJ 23.

Some 700 police personnel, including those from the Federal Reserve Unit, were deployed soon after the incident.