BY V. ANBALAGAN, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

A former Malaysia Airlines flight steward, who was held in a Paris detention centre for almost five months for alleged sexual assault on a passenger, has been freed but placed under house arrest pending completion of an investigation by French authorities, his family’s lawyer said.

Counsel Shailender Bhar said the 57-year-old steward, who was detained last August, was freed three weeks ago although investigations were ongoing.

“I have spoken to him over the phone and the family members have visited him. However, we are unsure when the investigation will be completed,” Shailender told The Malaysian Insider.

The lawyer said the steward was staying with a local resident approved by a French court. He said the steward’s travel documents had been returned to him but he was not allowed to leave the country, and was told to report to the nearest police station once a week.

Shailender said the investigation into the passenger’s claims could take between one and two more years according to the procedures of the French police, and this was cause for concern for the family.

“The family will have incur costs like paying the fee for a local French lawyer which could be in the region of RM200,000 at least.”

Shailender said the family had also decided to engage a new counsel to impress upon the judge that the steward must return home to be investigated by Malaysian police and possibly face a charge if there was sufficient evidence.

“We need to enlighten the judge about the Tokyo Convention to stop this prolonged detention,'” he said, adding the steward should be freed if there was no case to answer.

Malaysia and France are signatories to the convention, which is a multilateral treaty on offences and certain other acts committed on board an aircraft.

Article 3 states that the state of registration of the aircraft is competent to exercise jurisdiction over offences and acts committed on board, which means that France has no jurisdiction to investigate the steward, Shailender said.

The lawyer said the family and the National Union of Flight Attendants (Nufam) had written to Wisma Putra to intervene and bring back the steward but to no avail.

“We wanted government-to-government talks to resolve the issue but that has not happened. I suppose we have to fight it on our own now.”

Shailender said the French police have no jurisdiction to investigate the steward as the alleged crime did not take place in France or its airspace.

“As no criminal offence took place under French jurisdiction, he should not be investigated there.”

The alleged assault occurred aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH20 last August 5 and the steward was detained by French authorities upon arrival in Paris.

Passenger Laura Bushney claimed that the steward sexually assaulted her twice during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Paris. She lodged a police report upon reaching Charles de Gaulle airport.

In November, MAS confirmed that it had sacked the flight steward, despite the fact that he had not been charged or tried for the alleged incident.

The union has since referred the matter to the Industrial Relations Department and is seeking the steward’s reinstatement to his former position. – January 3, 2015.

– See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/ex-mas-steward-in-paris-under-house-arrest-as-sexual-assault-probe-drags-on#sthash.S4LiAsuO.dpuf

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/ex-mas-steward-in-paris-under-house-arrest-as-sexual-assault-probe-drags-on

BY L. SUGANYA

PETALING JAYA: The lawyers of an ex-Malaysia Airlines (MAS) steward who is detained in France for alleged sexual assault of a passenger will push for his quick release and return to Malaysia.

The accused’s lawyer Shailender Bhar, said that the steward has been under house arrest for the past three weeks with his movements being restricted.

“Investigations will carry on for the next year or two. He can’t leave the country till it is completed,” he said.

Bhar added that the steward is living with a French government approved Paris resident and that the accused has to appear at the police station on a weekly basis.

“What we are looking to do is to push for the judge to release and return him to the country.

“The investigations will be going on for a long time. He doesn’t even have a job and the expenses are high,” he said.

Bhar said that the steward was willing to cooperate fully with French police and government if the need arises.

“He has fully cooperated so far. That has been his stand from day one,” Bhar said, adding that he hoped that the steward would be “totally released”.

It was reported that the steward was detained on Aug 7 for the alleged sexual assault of a 26-year-old Australian passenger.

The passenger claimed that the steward sat next to her and gave her a massage under the pretext of comforting her when she expressed her nervousness about flying, before the incident took place.

The company dismissed the steward, who had worked for MAS for 32 years, following the allegations.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/01/03/mas-steward-paris-detained/

Union says MAS fires steward even before he is charged or tried for alleged sexual assault.

MASPETALING JAYA: A steward from MAS has been given his walking papers for misconduct despite unproven accusations that he sexually assaulted an Australian women passenger in August this year.

According to the Malaysian Insider, National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) president Ismail Nasaruddin confirmed the sacking saying the letter was sent to the steward’s home in the Klang Valley just two weeks after the alleged incident.

The more disheartening aspect of the sacking is that the steward is still in detention in Paris, having not even been charged or tried for the alleged offence yet.

Saying the sacking was unlawful, Ismail added that the union had now appealed to the Industrial Relations Department to re-instate the long-serving employee.

Speaking about the case, Ragunath Kesavan, a lawyer said, “The employee is deemed innocent until proven guilty by a court and MAS should have gone all the way to secure his freedom from the detention centre.”

Instead it is learned MAS distanced themselves from the incident and the only assistance the steward received was from Malaysian Embassy officials in Paris.
Shailender Bhar, who is representing the steward, said that under the Tokyo Convention, the steward should be sent home for investigation instead of being detained for months on end in Paris.

She added that the alleged incident did not even take place in France or their air space, thereby making his detention unlawful.

In the August 4 incident, a passenger by the name of Laura Bushney made a police report upon touching down in Paris, that the sacked steward had massaged her legs and run his hands down her pants during the MAS flight she was on. The 26-year-old also alleged she had recorded the entire assault on her iPhone.

However soon after these accusations, Bushney herself came under attack for her unbelievable story with many saying that if she was frozen with fear as she claimed, she would not have had the presence of mind to record the entire assault. Topless pictures of her on Instagram, which later emerged and have since been pulled down, further went against her credibility.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/11/13/mas-sacks-steward-despite-unproven-misconduct/

BY V. ANBALAGAN, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Published: 13 November 2014

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has fired a flight steward languishing in a Paris detention centre since August, even before he is charged and tried for an alleged sexual assault, says the national flight attendants union.

The union, which is crying foul over the sacking, said the action by the loss-making flag carrier was unlawful and against the rules of natural justice.

National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) president Ismail Nasaruddin told The Malaysian Insider that the employee who had served the national carrier for 32 years was notified of his termination in a letter that was sent to his home in the Klang Valley two weeks after the alleged incident.

“This is unprecedented as the letter was sent when he is still languishing in an overseas detention centre,” said Ismail.

Ismail said MAS had given the steward 60 days to appeal against the termination on grounds of “misconduct”.

“How is he going to appeal when he didn’t know that he was sacked from his employment?” Ismail asked.

The union has referred the matter to the Industrial Relations Department to reinstate the 57-year-old employee.

Ismail alleged that MAS had divorced itself from the case, and had not provided any assistance to the family of the steward.

“It is the Malaysian Embassy in Paris that has been helping our member and his family to cope during this difficult time,” said Ismail, who expressed frustration and unhappiness over the way MAS had handled the case.

Ismail also said that MAS wanted to wash its hands off the incident as it was struggling from the negative publicity generated following the missing MH370 flight and downed MH17 flight.

On March 8, Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, went off the radar over the South China Sea, an hour after takeoff from the KL International Airport at 12.41am. The aircraft was bound for Beijing, China.

Efforts to locate the aircraft are still ongoing in the southen Indian Ocean but there has been no trace of the jet yet.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17 enroute from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. The Boeing 777-200 aircraft is believed to have been shot down by a ground-to-air missile.

Lawyer Ragunath Kesavan said that MAS, as the employer, should have made an effort to secure the release of the steward from the detention centre.

“The employee is deemed innocent until proven guilty by a court and MAS should have gone all the way to secure his freedom from the detention centre,” he said.

He said the alleged sexual misdemeanour also took place when the steward was on duty.

Describing the sacking as extremely harsh, Ragunath said that MAS could have suspended him and paid 50% of his wages.

“The sacking is very harsh and the right of the employee’s livelihood and his dependants have been affected,” added Ragunath, who also handles employment and industrial dispute cases.

He said a domestic inquiry should have been held so that the union or the family members could have appeared before the committee to explain what had transpired.

“MAS could redeem itself by restoring the employment of the cabin crew when the matter comes for conciliation before the (Industrial Relations) department,” he added.

Ragunath said a gross injustice had been done to the steward who was still being investigated for the crime in France.

“Why is it taking such a long time? In Malaysia one is detained for only 14 days and thereafter must be charged or freed,” he said.

Lawyer Shailender Bhar, who has been engaged by the steward’s family, said French police had no jurisdiction to investigate the sexual assault on a passenger as the incident did not take place in that country or its air space.

The lawyer said that under the Tokyo Convention, the steward, who has been held by French police for investigation for sexual assault since August 5, should be sent home for investigation.

The Malaysian Insider understands that under the French criminal procedure code, a suspect could be held until the magistrate supervising the investigation gave the nod to frame charges or free the suspect.

There have been cases of suspects who remained in detention for up to four years although the law allows a maximum of 10 years.

Shailender said that from information gathered so far, the complainant, Australian Laura Bushney, 26, claimed that the first incident had occurred on the Paris-bound MAS Flight MH20 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport before the flight took off.

The second incident took place three-and-a-half hours later while the plane flew over the Bay of Bengal, India, in international air space.

French news portal FranceTVInfo first reported that the steward had been detained for sexually assaulting a passenger during the flight.

The passenger had apparently expressed her nervousness about flying over the Indian Ocean following the disappearance of Flight MH370 and the downing of Flight MH17.

The passenger, it was reported, lodged a police report upon reaching the Charles de Gaulle airport on August 5.

The steward was then questioned and, two days later, taken into custody.

Doubts have been cast on Bushney’s allegations, however, after she appeared on an Australian television station to speak about the incident.

She had also recorded part of the alleged assault on her camera phone instead of trying to stop it, which viewers found illogical.

Social media users criticised Bushney after watching the 30-minute interview, calling her story far-fetched and accusing her of “doing it for money”.

Some questioned how she had managed to record the incident if she was indeed as scared as she had claimed.

Others also took issue with “compromising” photos of her on her Instagram account, but those posts have since been deleted. Some, though, said that as the victim, she should not be blamed.

Bushney had said in the programme that the steward had “begged me not to report the incident, while we were still in the air, as he had a wife and a child”.

She said the steward took advantage of her fears about flying on MAS following the MH370 and MH17 incidents by sitting next to her and then eventually touching her on her legs and private parts. – November 13, 2014.

– See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/mas-sacks-steward-held-for-alleged-sexual-crime-union-lawyers-cry-foul#sthash.2fWDzwqo.dpuf

Aziz and his lawyer Dr Dheeraj Bhar. — Picture by Yiswaree Palansamy

BY YISWAREE PALANSAMYOCTOBER 1, 2014

SABAK BERNAM, Oct 1 — Constitutional expert Dr Abdul Aziz Bari vowed today never to be cowed into practicing self-censorship despite the prospect of facing charges under the dreaded Sedition Act 1948, saying he is fully aware what “seditious” words are.

The Universiti Selangor (Unisel) law professor pointed out that he was merely doing his job when he recently expressed his expert opinion on the Constitution.

“I don’t think I have to do any of this self-censoring on my part as I’m simply doing my job.

“In fact, I can tell you that I have been teaching this to my students for years,” Aziz told reporters this afternoon after he was questioned for an hour at the Sabak Bernam district police headquarters here.

“I think I’m pretty sure what is seditious and what’s not,” he added.

According to news portal The Malaysian Insider yesterday, Aziz will be investigated under Section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act 1948, after almost 100 reports were lodged against him for allegedly insulting the Sultan of Selangor in his published comments.

A police officer who wished to remain anonymous told TMI that there were reports from all over the country against Abdul Aziz for his remarks in two articles published by the portal.

The articles were “‎Sultan Selangor terikat Deklarasi 1992, perlu lantik Wan Azizah, kata Aziz Bari” dated September 1, and “Only God, not Sultan, has absolute powers, says legal expert” dated September 9.

TMI reported that two of its reporters also had their statements recorded on Monday, over the said articles.

“I mean stuff of that nature have been disseminated, discussed and taught to students. Probably something new to the public, but we have been doing this in the classroom for ages.

“So I don’t know what’s going on here,” Aziz said.

The law professor added, however, that he is no newbie to police investigations.

He said he had his statement recorded in 2011 over a “small comment” he made on how the Selangor Sultan had exercised his powers in the raid on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC).

Aziz was also suspended by the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) where he was attached to that year, following his comments published in news portal, Malaysiakini, titled: “Aziz Bari: Tidak salah kritik Raja-raja’ (Aziz Bari: Not wrong to criticise the Rulers)”.

After his comments raised an uproar, the academic even received a live bullet threat.

But he said today that despite his repeated run-ins with the authorities, he has remained unperturbed.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is part and parcel of learning.

“From my point of view, I think it is good that we are now having different events which allow us to look at the law and understand it better,” he said, adding that this is also an opportunity to see where the Constitution “has gone wrong”.

Aziz added, however, that Putrajaya’s sedition blitz is making it difficult for people to discuss constitutional matters freely, in an informed and mature manner.

He also expressed worry that upcoming experts with similar specialisation as himself, would‎ start practising self-censorship.

‎”We citizens should not be allow ourselves to be cowed into silence and fear as this is an attempt‎ to have a climate of fear in this country.

“After almost 60 years of independence, what’s happening is shameful,” he added.

Aziz was accompanied today by his lawyers, Dr Dheeraaj Bhar and Muhammad Afiq Mohamad Noor.

The trio arrived at the station at 11 am and Aziz had his statement recorded from 11.30 am till 12.30pm.

‎Following Aziz’s investigation, Universiti Malaya’s (UM) student union has also vowed to protest in solidarity with Abdul Aziz, should he be charged for offences under the Sedition Act.

– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/i-know-whats-seditious-and-whats-not-insists-academic-under-probe#sthash.85Doba6F.dpuf

Stress caused by police could have caused Sugumar’s death, says pathologist

BY PATHMA SUBRAMANIAM

September 25, 2014

SHAH ALAM, Sept 25 — Policemen who chased and forcefully apprehended C. Sugumar could have exacerbated his heart condition, ultimately causing his heart attack, a forensic pathologist said today.

Sugumar died shortly after he was arrested for allegedly running amok at a suburb in Hulu Langat last year. According to eye-witnesses, Sugumar was nailed down by three policemen as they handcuffed him with one policeman stepping on his head to pin it to the ground, while another sat on his buttocks and the other held his legs

Dr Mohamad Azaini Ibrahim refused to budge from his earlier finding that Sugumar died from coronary heart disease and not asphyxiation, but said he would amend his report to include the stress caused on the deceased caused by the preceding events.

“I would say that due to the circumstances surrounding the death, it is possible that the physical exertion and the connected stress precipitated his condition,” he said.

Lawyer Dr Dheeraj Bhar, who was assisting the Coroner’s Court in the inquest today, suggested that the vigorous act by the police officers had affected Sugumar’s breathing and subsequently caused him to choke.

The Hospital Serdang pathologist, who performed the autopsy on 39-year-old Sugumar, rejected the possibility.

Dr Mohamad Azaini explained that he had initially suspected that Sugumar died from asphyxiation based on the investigating officer’s recount of the incident, but ruled it out after examining the body thoroughly.

He said he found close to no petechial haemorrhages, or bleeding of capillaries into the skin — which he insisted would appear extensively on Sugumar’s body if he was asphyxiated.

The pathologist added that there were no injuries on Sugumar’s inner lip or gums, but blood was present in the deceased’s nostrils.

Dr Mohamad Azaini said that the blockage was at 70 per cent of the circular lumen area of a coronary artery, which would have probably caused Sugumar’s heart muscle to fail.

“The heart muscle did not get adequate blood or oxygen that it needs, and it probably had to pump faster when he ran… and the subsequent stress when he was being arrested… this would result in the heart being taxed,” he said.

“Although I thought of asphyxiation first, but after seeing the lesions in the artery I stated the cause of death to be coronary artery disease,” said Dr Mohamad Azaini.

Lawyers for Liberty’s executive director Eric Paulsen, who is holding the watching brief for Sugumar’s family, also requested that the Inspector-General of Police’s Standing Orders (IGSO) is presented in the inquest as two handcuffs were used to restrain Sugumar.

Paulsen made the application as police witnesses in the inquest had admitted it was not normal to double cuff an individual.

Coroner Azahari Abdul Hamid has instructed deputy public prosecutor Noor Husnita Mohd Radzi to produce the ISGO when the investigating officer into Sugumar’s case takes stand on October 2.

– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/stress-caused-by-police-could-have-caused-sugumars-death-testified-patholog#sthash.yeZ22WXa.dpuf

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/stress-caused-by-police-could-have-caused-sugumars-death-testified-patholog
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/stress-caused-police-could-caused-sugumar-death-testified-091300318.html

BY V. ANBALAGAN

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Published: 6 September 2014

French police have no jurisdiction to investigate a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) steward over a sexual assault complaint by a passenger as the alleged crime did not take place in France or its air space, a Malaysian lawyer said.

Shailender Bhar, who leaves for Paris early next week, said the 57-year-old employee should instead be repatriated to Malaysia for investigation.

“As there is no criminal offence that has taken place under French jurisdiction, he should not be investigated there,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

Shailender was approached for help by family members of the suspect who has been held by French police for investigation since August 5. He said the French police were investigating the case as rape.
“We will be meeting the state prosecutor who will be back to work after the summer vacation,” the lawyer said.

Shailender is to request that the suspect be freed on bail pending the possibility of filing a challenge that the French police have no authority to investigate and frame charges.

The French authorities have assigned a lawyer to the suspect but Shailender’s role is to give advice on the Malaysian perspective of the law.

Shailender said from information gathered so far, the complainant, Australian Laura Bushney, 26, claimed that the first incident had occurred on the Paris-bound plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport before the flight took off.

The second incident took place three-and-a-half hours later while the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH20 flew over the Bay of Bengal, India, in international air space.

“No offence took place in France or in its air space,” Shailender added.

French news portal FranceTVInfo first reported that the crew member had been detained for sexually assaulting a passenger during the flight.

The passenger had apparently expressed her nervousness about flying over the Indian Ocean following the disappearance of flight MH370 in March and the downing of flight MH17 in July in Ukraine.

The passenger, it was reported, lodged a police report upon reaching the Charles de Gaulle airport on August 5.

The MAS flight attendant was then questioned and, two days later, taken into custody.

Doubts have been cast on Bushney’s allegations, however, after she appeared on an Australian television station to speak about the incident. She had also recorded part of the alleged assault on her camera phone instead of trying to stop it, which viewers found illogical.

Social media users criticised Bushney after watching the 30-minute interview, calling her story far-fetched and accusing her of “doing it for money”.

Some questioned how she had managed to record the incident if she was indeed as scared as she had claimed. Others also took issue with “compromising” photos of her on her Instagram account, but those posts have since been deleted. Some, though, said that as the victim, she should not be blamed.

Bushney had said in the programme that the steward had “begged me not to report the incident, while we were still in the air, as he had a wife and a child”.

She said the steward took advantage of her fears about flying on MAS following the MH370 and MH17 incidents by sitting next to her and then eventually touching her on her legs and private parts. – September 6, 2014.

– See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-lawyer-heads-to-paris-to-secure-return-of-mas-steward-in-alleged#sthash.WdK3OStR.dpuf

– See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-lawyer-heads-to-paris-to-secure-return-of-mas-steward-in-alleged#sthash.WdK3OStR.dpuf