Harun J

In this case all six accused are police officers attached to Cheras Police Station, Kuala Lumpur and were jointly charged with committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 Penal Code read with section 34 of the same Code.

The facts are as follows:

Cheras Police Station is the headquarters of the 'C' Division of the Kuala Lumpur Police. 'C' Division includes Kg. Date Keramat. In 1977 the Police received several reports from members of the public living in Kg. Date Keramat that their houses were broken into and articles stolen. The Police set about to stamp out this menace and the Crimes Prevention Branch of 'C' Division was deployed for this purpose. The function of this branch is to take measures to prevent the commission of preventable crimes which includes the rounding-up of suspects and interrogating them.

At the material time, the Head of the Crimes Prevention Branch at Cheras Police Station was Chief Inspector Lai Kim Hon (the 1st accused). He had under his charge the following officers:

1 Detective Sergeant; 4 Detective Corporals; 12 Detective Police Constables; and 8 Special Rounds Police Constables.

The 3rd accused (Mahazan) and 4th accused (Harris) are two of the 12 Detective Police Constables; and the 5th accused (Joseph) one of the 8 Special Rounds Police Constables of the Branch. The 2nd accused (ASP Liew) is an Investigating Officer and the 6th accused (ASP Raja Bahruddin) is the Deputy Assistant Officer Commanding 'C' Division (Administration). Both are attached to Cheras Police Station but are not part of the Crimes Prevention Branch (CPB).

In the course of their investigations, the Police arrested Khairuddin bin Abdul Hamid (PW32) on June 14, 1977. He was interrogated and he implicated Noorazali bin Isahak (PW31). The Police arrested Noorazali on June 15, 1977. He too was interrogated and he in turn implicated Nordin bin Hamzah (the deceased).

Nordin was the son of Hamzah bin Abdul Jalil (PW12) in a family of 16 children all from the same mother. His father was a Sergeant in the Special Constabulary during the Emergency and since 1969 was employed as a Security Guard at the Development and Commercial Bank in Kuala Lumpur. Some of this large family lived in Kuala Lumpur and some at Cha'ah in Johor. Nordin was 16 years old at the time of his death. He left school at Cha'ah at the age of 14 years. After leaving school he lived in Kuala Lumpur with his father at the Pekeliling Flats for about 5 or 6 months. It was during this period that Nordin came to know Noorazali as they used to play football together at the padang by the flats and Noorazali's parents were known to Nordin's parents since both families moved into the Pekeliling Flats at the same time after the big floods in 1970. After the long visit to his father Nordin returned to Cha'ah and lived with his mother there. He earned a living as a frog-catcher which he sold to a Chinese for export to Singapore earning about $35 to $40 a day. Once every three months he accompanied his mother to visit his father in Kuala Lumpur staying about a week on each occasion. He continued to play football with Noorazali during such visits. His last visit to his father was about two weeks before his death.

On June 17, 1977 Noorazali accompanied the Police to Hamzah's house to point out Nordin whom he called 'Congo' because of his physical appearance. Neither father nor son was in the house but a relative suggested that Nordin could be either at Cha'ah or at his brother's house in Gombak. The Police went to Gombak. Hamzah was at the house and told the Police that Nordin had returned to Cha'ah. The Police knew him only as Congo but his father gave his real name and address at Cha'ah and also the registration number of the motor-cycle he was using. On June 18, 1977 at 9.20 a.m. Nordin was arrested at his house in Cha'ah. He was first taken to Cha'ah Police Station and at 11.50 a.m. the same day he was taken to Segamat Police Station. On arrival a