[Public Prosecutor vs Rutinin Bin Sulaiman – K42-60-2010]
impersonation, it is up to the accused to tender evidence to support such a
defence. In any event, the prosecution witnesses testified that it is not
possible to spoof both the IP address and the MAC address at the same time.
As there is no expert opinion evidence to the contrary, the learned Sessions
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Court Judge should have not considered the possibility of spoofing in the
instant case at the end of the case for the prosecution.
The learned Session Court Judge considered the presence of customers in the
shop at the material time. However, P.W. 13 who is an employee of the
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accused did not say in her statement taken during investigation that there
were two other customers in the shop at the material time. She only
mentioned the presence of customers in the shop at the trial. The accused
himself did not mention during investigation that others could have posted
the remark in question. There was no evidence that any other person used
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the computer at the time in question. The accused was present in the shop
that evening. It was a hand phone repair shop. It was not a cyber café
whose computer account is open for public use. The employees of the
accused did not say that they used the computer at the material time or had
posted the remark in question. They also did not say that any particular
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customer had used the computer at the time in question.
As for the alleged break in the chain of evidence, the prosecution witness
had correctly identified the computer that was seized and sent for analysis.
It is not a requirement that an exhibit should remain in the sight of the
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investigating officer at all times. It is sufficient that he is able to identify
from the label attached to it. Therefore the fact that the computer was
“checked in” is not a ground for holding that there was a break in the chain
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