Nina Natasha Bigong, 25, told Judge Duncan Sikodol that she had insisted on her friend, Turagis Lamum, driving back to the scene to help the victim, whom she (Nina) had earlier seen falling from a moving lorry.
Nina, the 34th prosecution witness, realized that the lorry driver was not going to pick up the victim that fell after they, in a Perodua Viva car, trailed the lorry into a road junction and saw it park by a house.
They were travelling behind the lorry on the day of the incident with Turagis at the wheel, she said.
Amir Ali Khan Nawaty, 40, is charged with causing the death of Norikah Saliwa, 16, from a moving lorry at Km 2.8, Jalan Langkon, Kota Marudu between 11am and 12.30pm on November 25, 2012.
He faces a jail term of up to 10 years, or with a fine, or with both, if convicted under Section 304 (b) of the Penal Code.
Nina said that after the victim fell, the lorry had continued moving forward and they followed it from behind because Turagis was in a state of shock.
Nina noticed the lorry carefully because she hoped that the lorry would turn back to help the passenger that fell from it.
She urged Turagis to drive back to the scene of the crime, upon realizing that the lorry was not going to turn back after following it into a junction and then seeing it parked by a house.
To a question by DPP Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharuddin, the lorry was parked on the right side of the road while their vehicle was at the left, but she did not see anyone coming out of the lorry.
She also did not see the face of the lorry driver as the lorry windows were too dark and because the distance between their vehicle and the lorry was quite far.
Nina said that the lorry remained parked by the house when she and Turagis left the area.
“When we arrived at the scene again, my eyes focused on the direction of the victim and I saw that the victim was still in the same position,” she said.
The witness also said that she, however, did not see the victim’s face or talk to anyone (excluding Turagis) at the scene besides Turagis’ mother, who was in the back seat of the car.
After that, Turagis placed an emergency phone call to 999, she added.
“Turagis instructed me not to alight from the car, then I saw two person(s) coming from a bus stop shack. I never left the car,” she said.
She told the court that the two persons were Pakistani males and that she saw them speaking to Turagis.
The distance between their Perodua Viva and the victim’s body was about 20 to 30 meters, she claimed.
The witness further testified that she initially thought the victim who fell was a male construction worker as the body dropped near a construction area.
“I thought the lorry was carrying its own workers because I saw some drainage works happening in front of it,” she said.
According to her, the victim’s body was about five metres away from the construction works.
“I noticed the lorry in front of us only when I realized its vehicle door was open,” she said, adding that the lorry’s left door was wide open at a 90-degree angle.
She also saw the victim falling feet first, then landed with face on the ground but she did not hear any scream from the victim.
The witness noticed that the victim’s forehead hit a rock about the size of a child’s fist but did not see any blood.
She was sitting at the front passenger seat area with the car windows at her side partially open when she witnessed the whole incident.
Nina further told the court that the lorry was moving at a speed of between 40 to 50 km per hour the moment the victim’s body fell from the lorry.
The trial continues today.
by Natasha Sim
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