Selvam, 28, faces trial later this month on a charge of dangerous and reckless driving. The charge carries a maximum jail term of 10 years or RM20,000 fine or both, upon conviction.
How ironical? An Indian foreign worker, who had faithfully followed orders to drive above the legal 110 kph speed limit (evidence - 29 traffic summonses issued for speeding along the same expressway) in transporting his boss safely for years, is now trapped in an unforgiving foreign jail with no one to turn to. Why is Ramkapal so quick to turn Prosecution witness when all evidence point to a setup murderous road accident?
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/04/04/karpals-driver-goes-bald-to-offer-prayers/
Karpal’s driver goes bald to offer prayers
Almost a year after DAP chairman's fatal accident, driver Selvam awaits trial.
SEBERANG JAYA: The late Karpal Singh’s former driver C Selvam went bald today to offer prayers at a Hindu temple here for his former boss and his colleague Michael Cornelius, both of whom died in a road accident almost a year ago.
Selvam, who was at the wheel of Karpal’s Toyota Alphard that night, said he felt abandoned by Karpal’s family since the accident, but it would not deter him from showing his love of Karpal and Michael.
Karpal, 74, the former DAP national chairman, and his personal aide Michael, 39, died instantly when their car collided with a lorry near Kampar on the North-South Expressway on April 17 last year.
Karpal’s Indonesian maid, Selfiana Rengga, 26, who was also in the vehicle was seriously injured but has since recovered.
Selvam suffered minor injuries, as did Karpal’s third son Ramkarpal.
Selvam, 28, faces trial later this month on a charge of dangerous and reckless driving. The charge carries a maximum jail term of 10 years or RM20,000 fine or both, upon conviction.
With the first anniversary of the accident falling next Friday, Selvam went bald today at 10am to offer his penance to Lord Muruga Perumaan, his favourite Hindu deity, at the Sri Bala Murugan Alayam.
He said he had dreamt about Karpal last week, and was told not to worry about his court case. “In my dream, Karpal told me that he would take care of me on the case,” he said.
Selvam, an Indian national from Vellore, Tamil Nadu, said he missed Karpal, Michael and his family back in India
After being charged, Selvam said he was left to languish in Taiping Prison for more than a month as he could not post bail of RM5,000.
He said he did not know anyone in Malaysia except his employer Karpal and his family, and had never imagined he would be abandoned and left to rot in a foreign jail.
During his remand, he prayed daily for the Karpal’s family to bail him out but help never came, he said, adding that no one from Karpal’s family, nor representatives of the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, came to visit him.
He said help came from an unexpected person, Parti Cinta Malaysia vice-president Huan Cheng Guan, who personally posted bail for Selvam, and had taken Selvam under his care since then, pending the court case.
The trial, in Kampar, begins on April 23. Selvam is represented by lawyer Baljit Singh, chairman of the Gerakan legal and human rights national bureau.
Selvam hoped he would be freed and could return to his parents and his two younger siblings.
The full article at TMI and Yahoo (reproduced verbatim, except for formatting) for the record.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/my-last-moments-with-pa-ramkarpal-singh
My last moments with Pa: Ramkarpal Singh
Published: 24 April 2014 6:12 AM
The Toyota Alphard in which Karpal Singh and his aide, Michael Cornelius, died last Thursday. – The Malaysian Insider pic, April 24, 2014.A week after the tragic crash that took the lives of veteran lawyer and politician Karpal Singh and his personal aide, Michael Cornelius, his son Ramkarpal recounts the final hours with his father that fateful day. This is his story, as told to V. Anbalagan, assistant news editor.“My parents (Karpal and Gurmit) had gone to Pantai Hospital about 8pm on Wednesday (April 16) to visit my brother Gobind (Singh Deo) who was admitted.They left about 8pm from my father's office in Jalan Pudu Lama together with Michael Cornelius and driver V. Selvam. The four returned home (in Bukit Ledang, Damansara) about 10pm and had dinner.
Pa, Michael, Selvam, our maid (Selfiana Rengga) and I were to leave that night for Penang. Pa and I were to appear in court the following day to represent a client charged with murder.
The weekend stay in Penang was also for Pa to meet his Bukit Gelugor constituents and prepare the petition of appeal for Anwar's (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) sodomy case. Before we left, Pa told Michael to take him to his garden. We moved into this house six months ago and Pa was in love with his garden. Going around the garden is not unusual for my dad and he does that occasionally. We then left about 11.30pm.
Pa was seated in the front beside the driver (they were in a Toyota Alphard). Michael sat directly behind dad. I was seated beside Michael. The maid sat alone at the back of the vehicle. We exited through the Jalan Duta toll around midnight and for the next 20 minutes or so, I spoke to Pa about some cases, including a matter he had attended in the Court of Appeal earlier in the day and political issues gripping the nation.
As usual, he was cracking some witty jokes. Slowly our conversation faded. I was still wide awake and tried to talk to Pa but he merely grunted his replies.
Michael was fast asleep, and so was the maid.
I tried to close my eyes but could not, despite having worked out on the treadmill earlier in the evening. I informed Selvam that I would take over at the wheel if he wanted to sleep but the driver replied he was fine. Since I had no one to talk to, I looked outside at the passing vehicles.
Suddenly, Pa woke up and asked Michael to adjust his seating position and place a pillow behind his neck. Michael did that. Moments later, both were fast asleep again.
As I was unable to sleep throughout the journey, I was restless at the back and did not concentrate on the road for most of it, checking my phone messages, among other things, instead.
Suddenly, I raised my head at one point and was shocked to see a lorry extremely close to our vehicle in front which we were approaching. After which, I screamed and immediately knelt to the ground as I held on to my father's seat. The collision occurred very soon thereafter.
I am unable to go into further details of the incident as the matter is still pending investigations at this stage.
I then realised there was no sound or movement from Pa and Michael. I reached across the front seat and held on to Pa from behind, who was strapped in his seat, lying motionless. Many things ran through my mind in those few moments.
Michael was lying outside on the road. The maid was screaming. Soon motorists stopped to help us but I did not get out of the vehicle as I was still holding onto Pa, hoping against hope that he had just passed out. It was traumatic. I was holding on to Pa, Michael was lying outside and the maid was hysterical.The Fire Department and police were at the scene within minutes and rescued the maid who was trapped by cutting through the vehicle roof. She is still in Ipoh Hospital but is fine.
Selvam and I had only minor injuries.
The ambulance then arrived and only after they had taken the maid away, did I realise that my father and Michael had died at the scene. (Ambulances do not take away bodies.)
The only consolation was that both probably did not feel the impact of the crash because they were asleep. I think they were killed instantly. Passing motorists as well as the cops and firemen were very understanding and compassionate during those brief but difficult moments. They held me as I stood there sobbing.
Before the police took Pa’s and Michael’s bodies away, I called my younger brother Mankarpal and broke the news to him. I went to the hospital in the police vehicle.
Ramkarpal is third among Karpal's five children. The 38-year-old bachelor worked in his father's law firm, Karpal and Co, in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.
He told The Malaysian Insider that he is still trying to get over events of that day.
"It's not easy. I am having a mental block. It is difficult to work but I will have to pull myself together and carry on his work," he said.
The accident occurred at KM301.6 of the North-South Expressway near Kampar, Perak, early Thursday morning. – April 24, 2014
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/bmalaysia/conversations/topics/96267
My last moments with Pa: Ramkarpal Singh
APRIL 24, 2014
The Toyota Alphard in which Karpal Singh and his aide, Michael Cornelius,
died last Thursday. - The Malaysian Insider pic, April 24, 2014.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/assets/uploads/resizer/karpal_car_gopeng_540_360_100.jpg
A week after the tragic crash that took the lives of veteran lawyer and
politician Karpal Singh and his personal aide, Michael Cornelius, his son
Ramkarpal recounts the final hours with his father that fateful day. This is
his story, as told to V. Anbalagan, assistant news editor.
"My parents (Karpal and Gurmit) had gone to Pantai Hospital about 8pm on
Wednesday (April 16) to visit my brother Gobind (Singh Deo) who was
admitted.
They left about 8pm from my father's office in Jalan Pudu Lama together with
Michael Cornelius and driver V. Selvam. The four returned home (in Bukit
Ledang, Damansara) about 10pm and had dinner.
Pa, Michael, Selvam, our maid (Selfiana Rengga) and I were to leave that
night for Penang. Pa and I were to appear in court the following day to
represent a client charged with murder.
The weekend stay in Penang was also for Pa to meet his Bukit Gelugor
constituents and prepare the petition of appeal for Anwar's (Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim) sodomy case.
Before we left, Pa told Michael to take him to his garden. We moved into
this house six months ago and Pa was in love with his garden.
Going around the garden is not unusual for my dad and he does that
occasionally. We then left about 11.30pm.
Pa was seated in the front beside the driver (they were in a Toyota
Alphard). Michael sat directly behind dad. I was seated beside Michael. The
maid sat alone at the back of the vehicle.
We exited through the Jalan Duta toll around midnight and for the next 20
minutes or so, I spoke to Pa about some cases, including a matter he had
attended in the Court of Appeal earlier in the day and political issues
gripping the nation.
As usual, he was cracking some witty jokes.
Slowly our conversation faded. I was still wide awake and tried to talk to
Pa but he merely grunted his replies.
Michael was fast asleep, and so was the maid.
I tried to close my eyes but could not despite having worked out on the
treadmill earlier in the evening.
I informed Selvam that I would take over at the wheel if he wanted to sleep
but the driver replied he was fine.
Since I had no one to talk to, I looked outside at the passing vehicles.
Suddenly, Pa woke up and asked Michael to adjust his seating position and
place a pillow behind his neck. Michael did that.
Moments later, both were fast asleep again.
Suddenly, I heard a loud crash and was jolted in my seat and realised that
we were in an accident. The left side of our vehicle was ripped off.
I screamed and Selvam swerved the vehicle to the right before it came to a
stop.
I then realised there was no sound or movement from Pa and Michael. I
reached across the front seat and held on to Pa from behind, who was
strapped in his seat, lying motionless. Many things ran through my mind in
those few moments.
Michael was lying outside on the road. The maid was screaming.
Soon motorists stopped to help us but I did not get out of the vehicle as I
was still holding onto Pa, hoping against hope that he had just passed out.
It was traumatic. I was holding on to Pa, Michael was lying outside and the
maid was hysterical.
The Fire Department and police were at the scene within minutes and rescued
the maid who was trapped by cutting through the vehicle roof. She is still
in Ipoh Hospital but is fine.
Selvam and I had only minor injuries.
The ambulance then arrived and only after they had taken the maid away, did
I realise that my father and Michael had died at the scene. (Ambulances do
not take away bodies.)
The only consolation was that both probably did not feel the impact of the
crash because they were asleep. I think they were killed instantly.
Passing motorists as well as the cops and firemen were very understanding
and compassionate during those brief but difficult moments. They held me as
I stood there sobbing.
Before the police took Pa's and Michael's bodies away, I called my younger
brother Mankarpal and broke the news to him. I went to the hospital in the
police vehicle.
Ramkarpal is third among Karpal's five children. The 38-year-old bachelor
worked in his father's law firm, Karpal and Co, in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.
He told The Malaysian Insider that he is still trying to get over events of
that day.
"It's not easy. I am having a mental block. It is difficult to work but I
will have to pull myself together and carry on his work," he said.
The accident occurred at KM301.6 of the North-South Expressway near Kampar,
Perak, early Thursday morning. - April 24, 2014
____
The spun illustration by the pro-government mouthpiece (The Star).
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