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7th August, 2008
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidate for P182 Pensiangan, Danny Anthony Andipai arrived at the nomination centre shortly before 10am.
Lawyer, Ruth Marcus, who was the third witness for respondent, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup told the High Court yesterday that she recalled the time of the petitioner’s arrival to the centre on April 29, and said that Danny was greeted with loud cheers from his supporters when he arrived.
“He shook hands with his supporters,” said Ruth who is also the respondent’s law firm partner and cousin.
She said that Danny was let inside the compound of the nomination centre after he identified himself as a candidate.
When asked by the respondent’s counsel, Alex Decena during an examination-in-chief if she was certain the person she saw on that day was Danny, she replied that she was sure of it because he was wearing a “nice white shirt which bears his name on it”.
Alex later asked Ruth to identify Danny in a picture taken during the day and Ruth pointed that the petitioner was the man wearing the white shirt.
Ruth added that she and other lawyers were not allowed into the nomination centre’s compound until 10.40am even though they were told by police personnel manning the gate earlier that they would be let in at 10am.
She said that she remembered the time they were let in as she was looking at her handphone all the time and was also mindful of the time when the Returning Officer, (RO) Bubudan OT Majalu made the announcement that the time for submitting the nomination paper was up at about 10am.
Once they were allowed into the compound, she said that all the lawyers immediately headed towards the RO to get the objection forms and lodged their objections.
She said that her team objected the petitioner’s and Independent candidate, Saineh Usau’s nomination paper on the ground that they were late in submitting them.
Danny submitted the nomination paper at 10.25am while Saineh submitted the paper at 10.30am. The time given to submit the nomination paper was between 9am to 10am, she said.
She said that they also raised an additional objection on Danny’s nomination paper due to a bankruptcy proceeding against him.
At the same time, they also wanted to object the nomination for Paul Gitang, who was PKR’s candidate for Sook.
Ruth was also asked if she was aware that Danny also raised an objection against the respondent.
She replied that she was unaware and was never informed of any objection against Kurup.
She then said that the RO made the announcement of Kurup’s victory after he accepted the objections made against Danny’s and Saineh’s nomination paper.
“It was about 12.30pm,” she said.
After the announcement was made, she said that the RO returned to his desk, followed by Danny, whom she said, looked upset.
During a cross-examination by the petitioner’s counsel, Ansari Abdullah later, Ruth told that some of the lawyers were shaking the fence when the policemen manning the gate did not let them in at about 10am.
“The police gestured us with their hands to hold on,” she said.
Ansari also told Ruth that the police record stated that lawyers were only let inside the center at about 10.54am, as opposed to her statement earlier that they were let in at 10.40am.
She said that she did not agree with the record and that she also did not agree that the RO only announced the closing of the nomination paper acceptance at about 11.14am.
However, she conceded with Ansari when the latter asked if her team was pressed for time in lodging the three objections.
“We only had 20 minutes,” she said.
She said that they did not manage to raise the objection against Paul Gitang’s nomination paper as it was already too late by the time they found out.
“Paul Gitang’s nomination paper was also submitted out of time,” she said.
Ruth was also asked to look at several documents and was asked if the three objections were made through her. She replied that they were.
She also told the court that the instruction to make the objection was made by Datuk Ellron Alfred Angian who was then vying for the Sook seat against Paul Gitang.
Ansari then said that none of the objection papers was signed by Ellron and asked Ruth if she agreed that under the law, the person who wrote the objection must sign the form.
“I agree,” she said. Nevertheless, Ruth said that the objection forms submitted by them were still valid. Hearing continues.
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