No dashcam footage found in senior cop’s car, murder trial told

IPOH: A dashcam in a Perodua Ativa driven by a senior police officer involved in a crash that killed a Form 5 student in December 2023, showed that it had been accessed a day after the incident, the High Court was told today.

However, the police forensic team found no footage related to the accident, prosecution witness S Dasarathan, a senior criminal investigation department officer, testified.

He said the findings were based on a forensic analysis report.”My initial check with the forensic team found no footage related to the incident. The last recorded footage was on Dec 19, 2022. There were no recordings between Dec 20, 2022 and Dec 15, 2023.

“This was confirmed by evidence showing that the dashcam had been removed during the installation of window tint on the vehicle earlier,” he said.

Dasarathan was reading his witness statement before Justice GSP Bhupindar Singh at the trial of deputy superintendent of police Nazri Abdul Razak, who is charged with murder in the death of Zaharif Affendi Muhd Zamrie, 17, near SMK Jati here on Dec 15, 2023.

Dasarathan testified that “although patterned marks were found on the T-shirt and trousers of the victim, it was not possible to determine if these were tyre marks, as no comparison samples were provided”.

He said a chemical analysis report indicated that the friction and tears on the T-shirt, trousers, underwear, helmet, backpack and shoes of the victim were consistent with abrasion against hard and rough surfaces.

Forensic analysis of the Perodua Ativa and the boy’s Yamaha LC motorcycle revealed that foreign paint fragments on the motorcycle were similar to the white paint from the car.

The prosecution is being conducted by deputy public prosecutors Afzainizam Abdul Aziz, Nasrul Hadi Abdul Ghani and Low Qin Hui, while Nazri is represented by lawyers M Athimulan, Mior Faridalathrash Wahid, and Aiman Hakim Kamaruzzaman.

Lawyer Syaheera Rosli is holding a watching brief.

Nazri, 45, is charged with murder, which carries the death penalty or imprisonment of 30 to 40 years and a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane upon conviction.

The trial continues on Tuesday.