A polarized range of faces were present in High Court 3 here today as two men were found not guilty of two counts of armed robbery.
Lim Keng Hong and Ng Kok Ching were jointly charged under section 3 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 for discharging a firearm in the commission of a scheduled offence which carries the death penalty. The first man was also charged under section 4 of the same Act for armed robbery.
Allegedly, at around 10.10pm on 9 December 2016, the two men entered a semi-d house whose auto gate was left open. They allegedly attacked the occupants, threatening them at gunpoint and demanded that the residents empty their pockets and hand over their valuables. At some point, one of the men shot the wall of the bed room.
The 5-day-trial commenced on the 14 August 2018. The victims, Low Kui Leong, 51, and his brother, Low Kee Hock, 44, were present and testified how the brothers were ambushed when they returned home. However, the victim’s wife, Tran Kim Chanh, did not testify in the trial despite being present. In total, 8 witnesses took the stand.
There was an uncomfortable shuffle in the courtroom as the weapons were brought out, a silver pistol and a gold pistol with white accents.
Defence Counsel for the two Accused, Dato’ Geethan Ram Vincent, appeared collected and was present throughout. He argued that there was no identification of the men and absolutely no evidence tying them to the weapons presented. He also criticized the Prosecution’s failure to call the victim’s wife to testify and that cross-examination of the older brother never took place due to his following absence.
YA Dato’ Mohd Nazlan Bin Mohd Ghazali presided over the case and held that the Prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against the two Accused. They were acquitted and discharged.
The Accused were arrested shortly after Chinese New Year following the incident and have been in police custody ever since.