[2007] 1 MLRA
Krishna Rao Gurumurthi & Anor v. PP & Another Appeal
697
CLJ 846; [2003] 2 AMR 468 provides an illustration of how the discretion is to be
exercised on the facts of a particular case. In that case, the accused was
apprehended while carrying two packages which were found to contain a
proscribed drug. Despite objection being raised by the defence, evidence was
admitted to show that on being accosted the accused fell at the arresting officer's
feet and begged for help. The purpose or object of putting in this evidence was to
prove that the accused knew that the packages contained the drug in question. It
was argued that the evidence was inadmissible as no caution had been
administered. But it was not possible for the arresting officer to administer a
caution given the circumstances. On appeal this court held that the evidence
though technically admissible should have been excluded by the judge in the
exercise of his discretion. The conduct of the accused in begging the arresting
officer aside, there was ample other evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that the accused had the requisite knowledge. So evidence of the accused's conduct
was merely prejudicial without doing anything to improve the prosecution's case.
[14] The facts of the present case are very different and readily distinguishable.
Here, the trial judge specifically negatived any oppression having been brought to
bear on the accused. After due consideration he accepted the evidence of the police
officers on the point and we find his reasoning to be unimpeachable. There is
another reason why the point cannot succeed. The probative value of the first
accused's discovery statement far outweighed its prejudicial effect in the sense
discussed. For, it merely went to establish the first accused's state of mind - a
highly relevant fact. It did nothing more.
[15] The second ground raised by learned counsel against admitting the discovery
statement was this. He submitted that on the prosecution's own evidence it was not
the first accused but someone else who had provided the police with information as
to the whereabouts of Balakrishnan's body. Counsel said that that is the fair
inference to be drawn from the independent facts. In support of his argument
learned counsel drew our attention to the police report exh. P87 which is at p. 682
of the record of appeal. According to that exhibit the first accused told PW15:
Saya boleh tunjukkan tempat saya buang mayat
which when translated into English reads "I can show the place where I threw the
body". In a later passage in exh. P87 PW15 states that the first accused told him
that he would show the place where he threw the body of the jaga or watchman.
Learned counsel also relied heavily on PW15's evidence under cross-examination
where he said that what actually happened was that the first accused spoke in
Tamil and said that he agreed to show PW15 where he had disposed of a body. It
was submitted that the discrepancies in the evidence above supported the inference
that the first accused only had knowledge of the whereabouts of a body and not the
body of Balakrishnan. It was further submitted that the evidence adverted to
merely confirmed the suspicion that the information of the whereabouts of the
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