Lau Bee Lan JC:

Background

The appellants in this case were the defendants in the Sessions Court at Kuching. Videher judgment dated 19 April 2002, the learned Sessions Court judge following a full trial gave judgment in favour of the respondent/plaintiff. Being dissatisfied with the decision, the appellants appealed.

The Appeal was fixed for hearing before me on 7 May 2003. However, M/s Abdul Rahman & Associates for the appellants videletter dated 5 May 2003 ("the letter") requested the court to reschedule the Appeal. The reasons were that counsel in charge of the said Appeal would be involved in an outraging modesty case, PP v. Mohd Ramlee bin Malaini(Criminal Case No. BTG-83-03-2003), which has been fixed for trial on 5 May 2003 to 10 May 2003 in the Magistrate's Court, Betong, Sri Aman and the main witness, the victim, is a teacher now posted in West Malaysia and other outstation police witnesses would also be giving evidence for the prosecution.

Apparently the respondent had no objection to the request. However, the court did not grant the request. On 7 May 2003, Mr Yong Sie Mee and Encik Jamsari Mohammad appeared for the respondent and appellants, respectively. Mr Yon