Four accused in murder of Sosilawati to know fate tomorrow

The four accused in the murder of cosmetics millionairess Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three other individuals, will know their fate tomorrow after the trial which received wide media coverage came to an end yesterday after almost two years.

Shah Alam High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir is scheduled to deliver the much-awaited verdict at 9am tomorrow.

Sosilawati, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim and Sosilawati's driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin were reported missing after going to Banting over land matters in 2010.

Their missing led to the arrest of laywer N.Pathmanabhan and three farmhands, T. Thilaiyalagan, R.Matan and R.Kathavarayan who were subsequently charged with murdering the four individuals.

Pathmanabhan, 43, Thilaiyalagan, 21, Matan, 22, and Kathavarayan, 33, were alleged to have murdered Sosilawati, 47, Noorhisham, 38, Ahmad Kamil, 32, and Kamaruddin, 44, at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat near Banting between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.

All four were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence, if convicted.

The prosection team comprised deputy public prosecutors Idham Abd Ghani, Ishak Mohd Yusoff and Saiful Edris Zainuddin while Pathmanabhan was represented by counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon and Pushpa Ratnam, Thilaiyalagan by counsel Gurbachan Singh, Matan by counsel Amer Hamzah Arshad and Khatavarayan by counsel Hasshahari Johari Mawi.

During the trial, there various twists and turns notably two prosecution witnesses, U.Suresh and K.Sarawanan, turning "hostile" and testimony by the fourth accused Kathavarayan who claimed to have seen Sosilawati at a restaurant on Sept 7, 2010, eight days after the murder incidents.

In their opening statement, the prosecution had told the court that Suresh and Sarawanan would give testimony on the role each of the accused had played in the murder of the four individuals.

The duo are now serving 20-year jail sentences each at the Sungai Udang Prison, Melaka after being convicted of disposing evidence related to the murders.

A total of 108 and 30 defence witnesses testified in the trial which began on July 4 2011 and involved 742 exhibits being tendered and notes of proceedings reaching almost 6,000 pages.