PRESENT POINT POWER

ABOVE & BELOW: Malaysiakini always had the story out on the same day (before others), get a subscription to read more H E R E

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ABOVE: The Court Room Scene - Day 19 Trial (trying to view the CCTV Footages, but the Equipment used was not compatible for VHS tapes)-with two monitors - one for the Judge and the other for the prosecution

DAY 19 Trial – Jul 16 2007

Enhanced - 8 CCTV Images loaded see below- they are real extracted from the tapes shown on TV

July 16, 2007 19:32 PM
Images Of Two Men- Believed To Be Azilah And Sirul Captured On Hotel's CCTV

SHAH ALAM, July 16 (Bernama) -- The Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial was shown eight images of two men believed to be the accused, Chief Insp Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, which were captured on the closed-circuit television (CCTV) of Hotel Malaya, where the Mongolian stayed. The images were shown on the screen of a 21-inch television placed on the prosecution's bench in the High Court here.

Insert ABOVE: Pic of Sirul Azhar, Is that him?

ABOVE & BELOW: Image 1 - Taken with different cameras & from different angle

INSERT is enlarged of person, further enlargement is NOT possible as the pixel of this picture & the TV resolution is NOT high

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ABOVE & BELOW: Image 2 - Taken with different cameras & from different angle

They revealed the two men, respectively wearing a white T-shirt and a yellow-blue striped T-shirt and pants, roaming the hotel lobby, the lift area, entering the lift and on the 7th and 11th floors between 4pm and 5pm on Oct 18 last year, a day before Altantuya was allegedly killed. Another television set was placed on the judge's bench for Justice Datuk Mohd Zaki Yasin who is presiding over the trial which entered its 19th day.

ABOVE & BELOW: Image 3 - Taken with different cameras & from different angle

Based on observation of the images which were not clear, the man in the yellow-blue striped T-shirt resembled Sirul Azhar, from the shape of his face and the physical aspect. At a glance, the other man looked like Azilah. Azilah, 30, and Sirul Azhar, 35, are charged with murdering Altantuya, 28, at a location between Lots 12843 and 16735, Mukim Bukit Raja, between 10pm on Oct 19 last year and 1am the following day.

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Altantuya Did Not Complain, Hotel Employee Tells Court

SHAH ALAM, July 16 (Bernama) -- A Hotel Malaya employee in charge of the front office told the High Court here today that he had never received any complaint from Altantuya Shaaribuu when she was staying there in October last year.

N. Haridharan (ABOVE), 22, said if the Mongolian woman lodged complaints, he surely had recorded them and informed the hotel manager on duty. He also said that Altantuya checked into the hotel on Oct 9 at about 2am but because of the hotel policy, the registration form showed that she checked in on Oct 8. He said this in reply to Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda's lawyer, Wong Kian Kheong, on the 19th day of trial for Altantuya's murder.

ABOVE: an artist impression of Chief Inspector Azilah and BELOW , Cpl Sirul

Two policemen (ABOVE) from the Special Action Squad -- 30-year-old Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, -- are charged with the murder while political analyst Abdul Razak, 46, is alleged to have abetted them. In previous proceedings, two Mongolian women who were with Altantuya, Uuriintuya Gal-Ochir and Namiraa Gerelmaa, said Abdul Razak's private detective, Suras Kumar, had harassed and threatened them at the hotel.

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ABOVE: The 3rd accused Abdul Razak arriving in court on Day 19 Trial
ABOVE & BELOW: The two hooded policemen arriving. Why are they helping their own people to dress in such a way to hide their faces or guilt?

Cloudy images from CCTV, prosecution sweats
R. Surenthira Kumar; SUN
DAY 19

SHAH ALAM (July 16, 2007): A technical hitch and obsolete equipment had the prosecution in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial sweating today. Hotel Malaya's closed-circuit television (CCTV) system had recorded the images of two men entering and leaving the hotel's 8th floor, where Altantuya Shaariibuu stayed on Oct 18. One of the men wore a yellow shirt and dark coloured long pants and the other in light coloured shirt and dark trousers. The prosecution wanted the hotel's operations manager Loo Mow Chan, who was testifying on the 19th day of the infamous murder trial, to state that the images in the CCTV were taken in the hotel lobby and lift area on the 8th floor. Loo testified that they were.

At this point, the prosecution had problems trying to get the recording to be played back smoothly. Instead the playback went staccato and the images were also not clear. This is because the player used by the prosecution was not compatible with the video tape, the court was told. After a lot of time was wasted trying to register a clear image, the court decided to reserve as evidence the CCTV images.
Judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin said the images will be viewed later with the proper equipment.
Loo was continuing his testimony which started last Thursday (July 12).
The playback equipment consisted of two monitors, one for the gallery and the other for the judge, video cassette player and cable connector set. The monitor showed a 16-frame image of the 16 CCTV recordings at various locations in the hotel, from the lobby to the lift areas and also from the 3rd to the 10th floors.
The recordings played in the court began from 4pm to 5pm and after midnight on Oct 18, 2006.
Altantuya was allegedly murdered between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20 2006.
DPP Manoj Kurup had a difficult time with the recording, playing it and rewinding it, to get to the images of the two men captured by the CCTVs on the lobby, lift area and the lift exits on the 7th and 8th floor.

Manoj then asked Loo to refer to the earlier photographs of the images taken by the police from the hotel's monitors and compare them to the images being shown on the monitors in the courtroom. At one point, Manoj asked why Loo had testified that the images were on the 7th floor whereas the recording showed it was on the 8th floor.
Loo (ABOVE) said he thought the images were on the 7th floor, when in fact the recordings were of the 8th floor, based on the markings on the 16-grain image.
Manoj: Can you explain why the clock is showing that time?
Loo: Because the system is not compatible with the player. The player cannot read the tape properly.
Manoj: So the timing as shown happens because this player has compatibility problem?
Loo: Yes
Manoj: Not because there is anything wrong with the tape?
Loo: Yes
Manoj: So if we play with a player that is compatible, the timing would not run?
Loo: Yes
Asked by Mohd Zaki if the system used in Hotel Malaya could be used to replay the recordings, Loo said it was out of order, but with their system, the recording could be viewed clearly.

"Are you going to get a replacement? The system is obsolete, isn't it?" asked DPP Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah.
Loo replied the replacement would be a new and better system.
Asked by Mohd Zaki if the DPP can get better equipment for the CCTV recordings to be viewed again when the afternoon session begins, Tun Abdul Majid said it had taken them two days to procure the present equipment.
"This system is obsolete," said Mohd Zaki to Tun Abdul Majid.
Loo was later asked on the guest list and he said Altantuya was registered into Room 817, then she changed to Room 801 and finally Room 821.
He said Altantuya checked in on Oct 9 and checked out on Oct 27.
Manoj also asked Loo about Room 823 which was registered under two unidentified persons names, but stopped short, saying the relevance of the question will be shown later.
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SHAH ALAM (July 16, 2007): The prosecution's lack of preparation for today's hearing of the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial was glaring.
They were playing back Hotel Malaya's closed-circuit television (CCTV) recording of two men seen entering the hotel and going up to the 8th floor where Altantuya stayed on Oct 18. But the images were unclear, and could not be played back smoothly. Instead, the images came out in random order, and the reading of the time the images were caught was also wrong. The prosecution tried to fix it. The court's policemen had a go at it.

ABOVE: Loo trying to fix and get the images running but without success

Hotel Malaya's operations manager Loo Mow Chan (ABOVE) , who was continuing his testimony, had it going for a while but it then went on the blink. A technician from a TV station covering the trial was also asked to help. So did a police forensics department official. They were dealing with an obsolete system. The hotel's system had gone bust and the prosecution took two days to procure the player to do the job.
The prosecution took several breaks to try and overcome the problem.
In the end, judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin had to reserve using the CCTV recording and the images taken from it as evidence until the technical hitch was resolved.

Prosecution sweats
SHAH ALAM (July 16, 2007): The prosecution sweated today, defeated by outdated technology. They desperately attempted to show the court the CCTV images recorded in Hotel Malaya on Oct 18. The hearing took off late due to the technical failure. The prosecution and the policemen tried to solve the problem but failed. Later, the hotel's operations manager had a go at it but only had the video running for a while. Even technicians from a private TV station gave the prosecution a hand.
The images recorded by the hotel CCTVs turned out to be not very clear as the recordings were captured on VHS tapes which have been phased out. A police forensics department personnel who had been roped in to assist in the exercise, also gave up, as the equipment used when the tapes were retrieved by the department for investigation was different from the one used in court today. The prosecution took several breaks to solve the problem, causing judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin, to quip:
"I have been up and down (referring to him leaving and returning to his chair) the whole day." He also asked the prosecution how they would know if the recordings can be viewed clearly and in a smooth flowing manner tomorrow as the tapes would be in the court's possession and it can only be tested when the court resumes sitting. DPP Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah said it could be tested only tomorrow and hoped the private company engaged to do this would succeed. He added the police forensics department would also bring their equipment which was used by them when they took the tapes for investigations, in case the private company fails.

When court resumed hearing after lunch, Hotel Malaya front office assistant N. Haridharan, 20, confirmed Altantuya Shaariibuu had checked into the hotel at 2am on Oct 9. He said he had filled the particulars in the guest check-in form with Altantuya's name, date of birth, passport issuance date and her nationality.
He said Altantuya filled in the address requested in the form and was given Room 817 after she had paid a cash deposit of RM300.
During cross examination, lawyer Wong Kian Kheong asked Haridharan if the hotel room was equipped with a safety latch and a peep hole, he said yes.

What happened today (Day 19)
* Hotel Malaya operations manager Loo Mow Chan continued his testimony from last Thursday (July 12).
* Court had difficulty viewing the CCTV recording as the playback equipment was not compatible with the video tape. Judge decides to view it later with the right equipment.
* After lunch, Loo resumed testimony, followed by the hotel's front office assistant, B. Haridharan