By Arul John

THE men are accused of torturing and sexually abusing their fellow cellmate.

But when questioned by cops, one of them claimed he was too shy to give details in the presence of policewomen, and wanted them out of the interrogation room.

It was only after Investigation Officer (IO) Eddie Low sent the women officers out that Muhammad Hamdan Abdul Rahman, 20, gave his statement on 15 May last year.

In it, he said he saw his cellmate, Mohammed Zameen Abdul Manoff, 20, sodomising the victim, M, 22.

M's name cannot be published due to a court order.

But when Muhammad Hamdan took the stand yesterday, he gave a different story.

He told the High Court he did not see Mohammed Zameen sodomise M.

Assault claim

He claimed prison officers assaulted him several days before he made his statement, and allegedly urged him to reconsider the sodomy allegation.

When he gave his testimony on Tuesday, Muhammad Hamdan's cellmate, Iryan Abdul Karim, 21, said he was similarly assaulted and pressured by the prison officers .

So why did Muhammad Hamdan give in to the alleged coercion?

He claimed that he did not want to get into further trouble over his offences.

Muhammad Hamdan said that IO Low, who was in court, visited him on 14 May last year to take his statement.

He said IO Low wanted him to 'think carefully' about the sodomy allegation, and would return the next day to record his statement.

But Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) David Khoo told a different story.

The DPP said IO Low never went to Changi Prison on 14 May, and that Muhammad Hamdan never left his cell to meet him that day either. IO Low had gone to the prison only on 15 May.

Muhammad Hamdan denied DPP Khoo's version and said IO Low was lying.

He said the interpreter added in more details besides what he told him. He also denied lying in court to get Mohammed Zameen off the hook.

When Muhammad Hamdan grilled M last week, he accused him of remembering 'what is important to you' whenever he could not remember something he stated in his police statements.

He said then: 'When people tell the truth, they can remember their stories, but if they tell lies, chances are they will forget their lies.'

But yesterday, DPP Khoo hurled that exact quote back to Muhammad Hamdan when he showed up discrepancies between what he told police and in court.

Muhammad Hamdan told police that he and the other two cellmates did the 'split legs' on M on 3 May last year, where they made M sit on the floor and stretched his legs sideways until they were stretched out straight on both sides.

In court, he said they did the act on 1 May.

Muhammad Hamdan said he 'said wrong', got 'jumbled up' and made a 'mistake'.

He also told police that he and the two other cellmates forced M to eat faeces on 4 May, but he told the court that they did it a day earlier.

The reasons were also inconsistent.

Muhammad Hamdan told police that the reason they forced M to eat faeces was that he had spilt coffee on the cell floor that day.

But in court, he said they forced M to eat faeces because he soiled his pants the day before and they were angry at having to clean up after him.

Muhammad Hamdan's cross-examination continues today. The trial is scheduled to end on 21 Jul.

This article was first published in The New Paper.