Gooi Soon Seng, who represents Indonesian Siti Aisyah asked ASP Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz if he had done a thorough job on the investigation into the murder.
Gooi was asking Wan Azirul on the seizure of former suspect Ri Jong Chol’s personal belongings and the questioning over the 13 days when Jong Chol was in police custody.
Azirul said officers from Selangor police headquarters had caught Ri at his apartment at Kuchai Entrepreneur Park, Kuala Lumpur on Feb 17 as they suspected the unit was used as a clandestine lab to make VX nerve agent.
He added his colleagues had also seized four handphones, four SIM cards, two laptops, two tablets, a computer, a bottle of chloride, two pink gloves and a toothbrush from Ri’s home.
Gooi: Were the four handphones still in your possession?
Azirul: No longer with me.
Gooi: Where are the phones now?
Azirul: They were returned back to him on the day he was chased out of Malaysia.
Azirul said he had sent the gadgets to be analysed in the forensics department but did not produce the forensic report in court today.
Judge Azmi Ariffin told the policeman to provide the related forensic report to Gooi before the next hearing.
Jong Chol was remanded for about two weeks and freed from remand on March 3, and was subsequently deported from the country.
Azirul had previously testified that the police did not have enough evidence to press charges on Jong Chol and another local suspect, Farid Jalaluddin.
Gooi then pressed the policeman if he had taken any of Jong Chol’s clothes and fingernail clippings to be analysed.
Gooi: Do you agree you did not take his clothes and his clipped nails to the chemist department to check if there was VX?
Azirul: Agree.
Gooi: But for Siti, you took her clothes, clipped nails and even her money for analysis?
Azirul: Yes.
Azirul explained it was not necessary for police to take Jong Chol’s belongings during the period.
Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are standing trial for the murder of the estranged half-brother of the North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un.
Jong Nam, the eldest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, arrived in Malaysia on Feb 6, and was at klia2 to board a 9am flight to Macau on the day he was killed.
He died on the way to Putrajaya Hospital, sparking a diplomatic row between Putrajaya and Pyongyang.
During the opening statement on Oct 2, the prosecution said it would prove that the two women approached Jong Nam at the airport’s departure hall and sprayed VX nerve agent on his eyes and face.
Prosecutors told the court the actions of Siti Aisyah and Doan showed that they intended to cause Jong Nam’s death.
In court today, Azirul also admitted that he only took Jong Chol’s statement once throughout the course of the investigation.
He agreed to Gooi’s question that it would be impossible to call Jong Chol back as a witness for the trial since the North Korean had left the country.
Gooi: Did you take any action to provide a bond for him to appear as a witness under Section 49 of Criminal Procedure Code?
Azirul: No
Gooi: Or did you take his witness statements before he was chased out?
Azirul: No
The policeman said he did not received orders from the deputy public prosecutor to call Jong Chol as a witness.
The hearing continues before Justice Azmi on Monday.