KLANG: The High Court here acquitted and discharged a freelance female interpreter and two men from charges of conspiring to murder her husband four years ago.
Judge Norliza Othman acquitted Leong Eng Eng, 41, Lim Yon Hay, 40, and Mok Kum Loon, 41, after the court found that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case at the end of its case.
The court also allowed an application to withdraw the same charge against another man, Lim's brother Lim Yon Loon, who died last year from tuberculosis.
According to the charge, all the accused conspired to murder Chow Tiam Hee, 41, in a house in Taman Anika, Sungai Udang here between 1.20am and 1.40am on Sept 15, 2022.
In her ruling on Friday (April 24), Norliza said the prosecution failed to prove that all the accused had conspired to murder in the incident, with no evidence from any prosecution witness confirming their conspiracy either directly or circumstantially.
"Leong was the deceased's wife at the time of the incident…to prove she murdered him by inflicting fatal injuries, the prosecution needed more than just bloodstains on her clothes and trousers.
"The prosecution's CCTV footage was rather blurry, except for Leong, the only woman in it, and showed nothing suspicious since she was at her own home," she said.
Additionally, she said, the prosecution's CCTV footage was inadmissible because they failed to produce a certificate under Section 90A of the Evidence Act 1950 to counter the defence's claim that it was a computer-generated document.
Norliza said the prosecution only submitted a memory card seized by investigating officers, leaving no comparison with the original device to verify its authenticity.
"The prosecution produced RM2,600 seized from Lim, claiming it was payment money, but provided no evidence to back that up.
"From another angle, it is a weakness of the investigation by the investigating officers when there was no important recording, namely the struggle, to show that the suspects who fought with the deceased and injured him were all the accused," Norliza said.
Consequently, she said investigators failed to probe the connections between all the accused, including who was at the house that night and their links to Leong.
"I rule that at the end of the prosecution's case, they failed to establish a prima facie case against any of you on the murder charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read with Sections 34 and 109.
"You three are therefore acquitted and discharged, with no need to defend yourselves on these charges," she said.
The prosecution called 22 witnesses over the trial, which began in September 2023.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Ashiqin Zulkifli led the prosecution, while Datuk Mohd Daud Leong Abdullah represented interpreter Leong, with Tan Choon Hong acting for Lim and V. Ayasamy for Mok. – Bernama
