N Sivananthan, who is appearing for former military doctor R Kunaseegaran, explained that some of the appellants could not file their grounds of appeal as the appeal records had yet to be finalised.

The appeal records usually consist of the judgment of the court, notes of proceedings and exhibits.

Sivananthan said Kunaseegaran himself managed to file his petition of appeal early this year soon after trial judge Azman Abdullah provided his written grounds.

Meanwhile, FMT understands one of the other appellants has yet to collect the appeal records from the High Court while another has just appointed a new lawyer.

Lawyer Jasmine Cheong, who is assisting Sivananthan in this appeal, said Court of Appeal deputy registrar Nurul Azrina Mohamed Yusof has fixed another case management for July 22.

“The appeal hearing could not be fixed yet due to several reasons,” Cheong told FMT after case management today.

She said Nurul had noted that this was a high-profile case and steps would be taken to expedite the hearing.

“Nurul has indicated that a hearing date could be fixed on July 22,” she said, adding that today was the eighth case management in connection with the appeal.

In December 2020, FMT also reported that the appeal process stalled because Azman had yet to provide his written grounds.

According to a court practice direction, a trial judge must prepare the grounds of judgment within eight weeks of the appellant filing an appeal.

R Dinishwaran, AK Thinesh Kumar, M Vishwanath, S Nimalan and S Ravi Chandaran were also convicted of murdering Morais on Sept 4, 2015 between Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul in Kuala Lumpur and No 1, Jalan USJ 1/6D, Subang Jaya.

In one of the longest trials, delayed due to a host of reasons such as a change of lawyers, the verdict was delivered on July 10, 2020.

The trial started at the High Court in January 2016 with 70 witnesses testifying during the prosecution stage.

Those charged with murder have to remain as remand prisoners pending a final outcome as bail is not allowed.