Somalians' shooting case to be heard on Dec 13

The case of seven Somalians charged with shooting at Malaysian navy commandos in the Gulf of Aden has been set for hearing on Dec 13.

The case will be before a new High Court judge following recusal by the trial judge last week.

Counsel A. Saha Deva, acting for one of the accused, said the matter would be heard by Justice Datuk Mohd Azman Husin.

He said although the court had set the date for hearing, his client and six other Somalians would repeat their guilty pleas to the charge which the prosecution had indicated to amend the coordinate (location) of the alleged incident stated in the charge sheet.

On Oct 18, Justice Kamardin Hashim refused to record their guilty pleas after another counsel Edmund Bon raised a discrepancy on the actual location of the incident in the Gulf of Aden on Oct 18, last year.

Justice Kamardin recused himself from presiding further on the matter by stating that the court would not accept any "conditional" guilty plea.

Bon had informed the court that checks on the documents supplied to the defence by the prosecution, especially on the location of the incident, had revealed that the latitude and longitude stated in the charge was totally different from the location recorded in the log book of the ship as well as the Crime Scene Investigation report prepared by the police.

Initially, the Somalians were charged under Section 3 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 which carries the mandatory death sentence, if convicted.

However, On Oct 8, the prosecution offered an alternative charge to the Somalians under Section 32(1)(a) of the same Act, which provides for imprisonment of up to 14 years or life, upon conviction.

The alternative charge was offered to them after a representation by the defence to strike out the (initial) charge was rejected by the Attorney-General's Chambers.