By Selina Lum

THE unusual scene of prisoners questioning prison officers was played out in a courtroom yesterday as the trial of three inmates accused of assaulting their former cellmate entered its fifth day.

Eleven prison officers called by the prosecution to testify were cross-examined by the three accused prisoners, who are conducting their own defence.

Compared with their robust grilling of the 22-year-old accuser on the first three days of trial, the trio took a more respectful tone yesterday, greeting each officer with 'Morning, sir' or 'Afternoon, sir'.

When the officers said they could not remember certain things asked, the trio did not accuse them of lying, as had been the case with the alleged victim.

Two of the accused, Iryan Abdul Karim and Hamdan Abdul Rahman, said they had been beaten up by prison officers two days before making police statements.

Justice Tay Yong Kwang told them to let him know on Monday whether they would contest the admissibility of their police statements as evidence.

Seven of the 11 officers questioned yesterday knew all the prisoners involved as they were from the unit where the prisoners were housed. They were asked about prison practices, such as daily strip search procedures, whether they had seen injuries on the alleged victim and whether he had complained about being assaulted.

When the three accused questioned the alleged victim, they noted he had not told the officers about the assaults, choosing to return to his cell instead.

Also, the accuser said he had a swollen eye and bruises, but these were not detected as he avoided direct eye contact, and guards just 'glance' at the inmates 'at one shot' during daily body checks.

The third accused, Zameen Abdul Manoff, 21, asked Deputy Superintendent Shahril Abdul Ghani, who was then in charge of their housing unit, about the methods used to check inmates.

The officer said inmates have to strip naked, show their open palms and armpits, open their mouths, turn around, squat and show the soles of their feet.

These daily searches are made to check for bruises and hidden contraband items.

In response to questions from Justice Tay, DSP Shahril said two guards do the checks on about 110 inmates every morning. Altogether, this takes about 10 minutes. The judge noted this comes to no more than eight or so seconds per inmate.

Other officers who took the stand said they visually check each inmate. They said the alleged victim did not say he had been beaten up, or look ill or in pain.

Staff Sgt Jamalluddin Abdul Aziz said the alleged victim complained of being unwell. The officer did not see any visible injuries and told him to report sick.

A day later, the accuser pressed the intercom button in his cell to seek help. Two attending officers said they saw only abrasions on his knuckles.

While the alleged victim was in hospital, he confided in two guards. Staff Sgt Zulkifi Osman asked him if he wanted to say anything. He said he had been physically and sexually assaulted by cellmates and sodomised 'a few times' by Zameen.

Staff Sgt Raymond Yin said the alleged victim 'straightaway' complained about it.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.