SODOMY II: Anwar Ibrahim's appeal proceedings extended to Thursday

The defence team, led by retired federal court judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram, was asked by Chief Justice of Malaysia Tun Arifin Zakaria about the duration needed to present their arguments, which led the latter to give his consent for proceedings to be extended.

Arifin posed the question following Gopal’s submissions that started about 9.20am, required two extra hours to finish.

Gopal, a retired federal court judge, in his submissions today, tried to prove that Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the alleged sodomised party, is not reliable.

He questioned whether there was penetration in the alleged sodomy case as Mohd Saiful's testimony was inconsistent over the existence of lubricant KY Jelly in the act.

He also argued that according to the evidence from the complainant at the High Court, the act was vigorous and he suffered pain in his anus and stomach but if that was correct, the lubricant could not have been used because it was to facilitate penetration and avoid pain.

Gopal also said Mohd Saiful, in his testimony, had said that the semen stayed in his anus for several days but when cross-examined by the late Karpal Singh, the main witness said he did not take a bath after the incident and only rinsed his body, and that he had taken a bath in the morning prior to the incident.

Gopal also raised doubts on Mohd Saiful’s action of only lodging a police report only two days after the alleged sodomy took place.

He said, if that was true, Mohd Saiful would have lodged the police report or had himself physically examined at the earliest opportunity, but Mohd Saiful had awaited two days to go to the hospital which led him to make the police report on June 28, 2008.

The hearing continues tomorrow at 9.30am.