A prospect of another voir dire (trial-within-a-trial) in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial is looming following an application by a defence counsel this morning in the Shah Alam High Court today.

Lawyer Hazman Ahmad, acting for first accused chief inspector Azilah Hadri, requested the voir dire to determine the admissibility of evidence tendered by a witness. Hazman said the evidence was unfair on Azilah.

The prosecution's 19th witness, chief inspector Koh Fei Cheow (photo), 38, started by telling the court how first accused Azilah, 31, had led his team of four officers and him to Puncak Alam on Nov 6 last year.

Mongolian national Altantuya is believed to have been shot before her body was blown to pieces with explosives at a secondary forest in Puncak Alam, near Shah Alam in October last year.

During examination by deputy public prosecutor Tun Majid Tun Hamzah, Koh said ASP Tonny Lunggan had instructed him to bring the first accused and find the crime scene at 5:20pm on that date (Nov 6).

According Koh, Azilah had directed the team from the Kuala Lumpur Contingent headquarters to the crime scene. They arrived at Puncak Alam at 6.50pm in a blue Pajero owned by the Royal Malaysian Police.

"The entire journey was directed by the first accused. We took several wrong turns along the way. I did not know any of the roads there. I'm not sure if my men knew the area either," he said.

Koh, who is attached to the Serious Crime Unit (D9), said Azilah then told them to stop at a jungle and wanted to look around.

"We stopped the car on the right side of the clearing. My team brought Azilah out of the car to observe the surroundings.

"He then led me into the jungle, not far from the clearing. I asked him if this was where the murder happened and he said yes," he said.

Lawyer to submit

At this juncture, defence lawyer Hazman (photo) objected and said this court has to exclude this evidence as it was unfair on his client.

"This is a statement under S27 (of the Evidence Act) [...] the most appropriate way is for the court to exclude the evidence and this must be done in a trial within a trial," he said.

Section 27 states how much of information received from accused may be proved in court and the case law raised by Hazman said this must be done in a voir dire.

Tun Majid however said that there was no need for a trial-within-a-trial as the prosecution could prove the voluntariness of Azilah's action.

Judge Mohd Zaki Md Yasin then asked both Hazman and Tun Majid to submit on Monday if there should be a trial-within-a-trial.

Previously the court had heard another trial-within-a-trial and ruled that it would not admit as evidence the confession made by second accused corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, to his superior.

'This is the place'

Continuing his testimony, Koh told the court that Azilah pointed to him the place where Altantuya was "blasted".

"Azilah took me into a jungle area and he said, 'This is the place... This is where the Mongolian woman was blasted'," Koh said.

"I surveyed the crime area and I found bones and pieces of bones believed to belong to a human being," he said, adding that it was not a full skeleton.

"After that I noticed burn marks on the tree, and withered leaves."

He said it was about 6:15 pm, still light enough to see the victim's remains.

Koh also said Azilah took him to an open area about 30 feet from the blast scene and told him, "This is the place the Mongolian woman was shot."

Investigation team

Earlier today, superintendent Zainol Samah, 42, head of the Special Investigations Unit testified that an investigation team was formed to deal with this case.

"I was first ordered to deal with the arrests of Azilah and Sirul. Then we created an investigation team to coordinate our actions, there was division of tasks and planning meetings were held.

"So it wasn't 100 percent led by me," he said.

He said the investigation team was led by Federal CID deputy director (II) Syed Ismail Syed Azizan and KL CID deputy chief superintendent Ramli Mat Arshad.

Zainol, who often took a while to answer questions, had the packed courtroom in stitches when he referred to Koh as "KFC".

The judge and Tun Majid appeared amused when Zainol's statement was made.

Azilah and Sirul are charged with killing Altantuya between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20 last year.

Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda is charged with abetting them. All three face the death penalty if convicted.