Roeshan Celestine Gomez, however, insists that he saw the ‘abduction’ first-hand.

Pastor Raymond Koh’s wife, Susannah Liew, is suing several former high-ranking police officers over his disappearance in 2017.

KUALA LUMPUR: A witness who saw Pastor Raymond Koh’s 2017 “abduction” told the High Court he was unsure if those involved were police officers or other agents of the state.

Roeshan Celestine Gomez admitted this during cross-examination by senior federal counsel Nurul Farhana Khalid during the hearing of Koh’s family lawsuit against the government.

Gomez said he recalled that the individuals who carried out the abduction on Feb 13, 2017 wore black military outfits, but could not tell if their attire carried any national emblem or logo.

“I have no recollection of that,” he said, when asked if the sports utility vehicles (SUVs) at the scene bore the police logo.

Farhana then asked Gomez a series of questions on the police report he lodged on the day of the incident. She claimed the contents of the report were inconsistent with his testimony in court as well as the contents of documents put forward by Koh’s family in the lawsuit.

Farhana said Gomez’s report did not mention the name of his passenger and model of the car from which Koh was pulled out.

“You did not do so because you were not at the scene and never witnessed the so-called kidnapping. Your testimony in court and (at the) Suhakam (hearing previously) was an ‘afterthought’ from watching the CCTV (footage) available online,” Farhana contended.

Gomez, however, disagreed, insisting that he witnessed the entire incident.

Lawyer Jerald Gomez then objected to questions relating to the drafting of court documents being put to the witness.

“These are points of law that can be raised during submissions,” he said.

In response, Farhana said the lawsuit was drafted according to what (witness) Gomez purportedly saw.

Judicial commissioner Su Tiang Joo told the senior federal counsel not to presume that the plaintiff’s court documents were drafted based on what Gomez saw.

“The law states that questions about facts that are not proven cannot be asked. Let us be guided by the law,” Su said.

On Feb 12, 2020, Koh’s wife, Susannah Liew, filed a lawsuit against the government, the police, the inspector-general of police and a number of former high-ranking police officers over his disappearance.

The list includes former IGPs Khalid Abu Bakar and Fuzi Harun, and former principal assistant director of the Special Branch’s social extremism division, Awaludin Jadid.

The others named in the lawsuit are former CID chief Huzir Mohamed, former Selangor CID chief Fadzil Ahmat, and police officers Supari Muhammad, Khor Yi Shuen, Hazril Kamis, Shamzaini Daud and Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz.

Liew is seeking damages over Koh’s disappearance, as well as for the authorities to be held liable for his unlawful abduction, and for misfeasance in public office.

Suhakam held a public inquiry into the disappearance of Koh and activist Amri Che Mat between 2017 and 2019.

It concluded that Koh and Amri were victims of enforced disappearance carried out by the state, specifically by the Special Branch.

The trial continues on June 20.