Morais case: Witness admits seeing something like a gunny sack

KUALA LUMPUR: An accused turned prosecution witness, G. Gunasekaran "saw something that looked like a gunny sack" in an oil drum while he and two others were scooping cement into the drum, the High Court heard today in the murder trial of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Kevin Morais.
Gunasekaran, 48, said after pouring cement on the front his shop (which was being renovated), cement was scooped into the oil drum by him and two other accused S.Nimalan and S.Ravichandran.
"Nimalan, Ravi and I were scooping cement into the oil drum…I saw something but I was not sure if it was a gunny sack," said Gunasekaran, during cross-examination by N.Sivananthan, lawyer of the accused Dr. R. Kunaseegaran.
At this point, Sivananthan reminded Gunasekaran that he had stated that he saw a gunny sack, in his statement to the police.
"I saw something that looked like a gunny sack… I was not sure," said Gunasekaran.
Sivananthan questioned Gunasekaran if he had asked Ravi or Nimalan or Ramesh, a contractor, who was renovating his shop, Gunasekaran said: "I had asked about the oil drum but 'he' (did not mention the name) said it was for security post," he said.
"When you gave your police statement, you told the police that you were looking for an oil drum to be used as a rubbish bin but now, you are saying that you were told it was to be used as a security post. Which is the truth?" Sivananthan asked.
"I told that to the investigating officer, maybe he did not write down," replied Gunasekaran.
(The court had heard testimony that Morais' body was found in a gunny sack in an oil drum, filled with cement)
Sivananthan questioned if his lawyer advised him to plead guilty on a charge of disposing Morais' body and his car and admit to the "fact of the case" presented, if he wanted to accept a lesser charge, Gunasekaran said he was the one who asked for it.
"I was asking from the beginning as I did not commit an offence under Section 302 of the Penal Code (for murder)," he said, adding that he had even asked his former lawyer and that his current lawyer S. Ramesh Sivakumar got him a lesser charge.
Gunasekaran was jailed two years from the date of arrest, Sept 15, 2015 for a charge under Section 201 of the Penal Code for disposing Morais body and car by a Sessions Court on Dec 20,2016.
He completed his sentence and was released on last Friday, Jan 13, 2017.
The case before High Court judge Datuk Azman Abdullah was postponed to Friday as Nimalan had stomach ache.
The accused, R. Dinishwaran, 24; A. K. Thinesh Kumar, 23, M. Vishwanath, 26, S.Nimalan, 23, and S.Ravi Chandaran, 35, had claimed trial to murdering Morais.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kuna, 53, claimed trial to abetting the six in the alleged commission of the murder. Morais, 55, was allegedly murdered between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015.