KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed a revision application against the remand order on two brothers being investigated over the murder of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya.
The brothers’ lawyer, Ravi Nekoo said in an email to the media yesterday that High Court judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah had dismissed the application without hearing the parties yesterday.
“We received a faxed letter dated Oct 12 from Senior Assistant Registrar Haslina Basaruddin at 11.50am,” he said.
“We are indeed shocked that in matters concerning the rights of the arrested person, the Halls of Justice have found it fair to have the voices of the arrested persons muted.”
When contacted by The Star, Ravi said he would file an appeal against the decision as soon as possible.
“We are of the view that we should have been heard as it involves the rights of arrested persons,” he added.
Ravi said Section 325(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code states that “no order under this section shall be made to the prejudice of the accused unless he has had on opportunity of being heard, either personally or by advocate, in his own defence”.
Although Section 326 states that the right to be heard is not automatic, in matters where the arrested person would be prejudiced this section has no application, Ravi maintained.
In the revision application filed at the High Court criminal registry on Monday, the two brothers claimed that the Oct 8 remand order made by Registrar Ahmad Shakib Ismail was illegal and should be reviewed.
The remand order, which expires tomorrow, was made after the brothers were released and rearrested on Oct 7 in relation to the disappearance of Mohd Shafiq Abdullah and S. Thevaraj.
The brothers have been remanded three times consecutively over three separate cases since their arrest in Banting on Sept 11.
The first, lasting 14 days, was in relation to the disappearance of Sosilawati, 47, her driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44, CIMB bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, and lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abd Karim, 32.
The second – for 12 days – was in relation to the disappearance of Indian national A. Muthuraja.
In the application, the brothers claimed that the Registrar had erred in his decision to extend their remand for six days from Oct 8.
They also claimed that the reasons investigating officer ASP Tonny Anak Longgan from Brickfields district police headquarters gave the Registrar to justify the remand were irrelevant.
Among the reasons were to trace case items and to carry out an identification parade, which they claimed could have been done without them being remanded.
They also claimed that it was unacceptable for the police to remand them on grounds of locating other suspects at large because the police had already detained eight people.
