An officer who assisted in the arrest of a college student who was charged with obstructing another officer from apprehending an ‘Occupy Dataran’ activist said he didn’t ‘see clearly’ to be sure that the offence had taken place.

 

Mohammad Safaruddin Abdul Ghafar told the magistrate’s court in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that this was because he was a few metres away from the back of the 23 year-old accused, Umar Mohd Azmi.

NONE Umar ( left ) was arrested during a Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) raid against Occupy Dataran activists on April 22, and was later charged with obstructing the officer under Section 186 of the Penal Code. 

Safaruddin added that the situation then was so chaotic and everything happened very fast, when questioned by defence counsel Syahredzan Johan on the first day of the trial.

 

However, he said he knew for sure the obstruction took place, but he had not seen it clearly.

 

Safaruddin said he had noticed Umar reacting in an “aggressive” manner by trying to break free from an officer who had hugged him from behind.

 

Syahredzan asked, “Isn’t breaking free a natural move when someone hugs you?”

 

The third witness in the trial said, “I’m not sure... it depends on the situation, maybe (I would) just let it be, it never happened to me before.

Meanwhile, another enforcement officer, Mohd Zulhainan Mohd Isa, who conducted the operation against the occupiers, also echoed Safaruddin’s statement, saying he had seen Umar push and obstruct the officer from carrying out his duty, but he had not seen the events clearly neither.

 

Zulhainan said he had ordered the arrest of‘Occupy Dataran’activist Mohd Fahmi Reza Mohd Zarin, as the latter has ‘repeated the offence’ by putting up tents again.

The witness also said Fahmi came out from one of the tents after the order to have the occupiers remove the tents was read out, therefore he wasn’t sure if Fahmi had heard it.

 

He agreed that the Fahmi had not done anything provocative which led to his arrest.

 

‘Fahmi sat on the floor stiff like a doll’

However, Zulhainan’s view wasn’t quite shared by his subordinate Mohd Masran Mamat who testified later.

 

Masran said after Fahmi came out from the tent, he acted ‘provocatively by sitting on the floor, pushing an officer and said “Jangan buka” (don’t open) to stop the officers from tearing down a tent which stored food.

 

“He sat on the floor stiff like a doll... we were forced to arrest him, he didn’t want to co-operate with us,” he said.

 

Masran was the key witness in this trial as Umar was charged with obstructing Masran from “apprehending and escorting” Fahmi.

 

Masran told the court that when he seen Umar approaching, he had warned the latter thee times.

 

“I gave the warning thrice, I said, ‘Tepi, tepi, tepi' (step aside, step aside, step aside),” he said.

 

Masran also said he later grabbed the accused’s hand and shoulder, and Umar was arrested after he had pushed his chest.

 

The trial adjourned to today, where deputy prosecutor Wong Cai Xia will call another three witnesses.