| This is despite the discrepancy pointed out by Ram Karpal over one loci out of 15 having three alleles.
DNA chemist Nor Aidora Saedon maintained that her tests on a towel given by the police to her showed it came from a single contributor or person.
This was despite the discrepancy pointed out by defence counsel Ram Karpal at the Kuala Lumpur High Court over one loci out of 15 STR (short tandem repeat) loci having three alleles, namely having a reading of 15, 18, 19.
Ram suggested the presence of three alleles could have shown that the DNA has been mixed or it could come from two different persons.
This follows his argument that a person is only supposed to have two alleles in a loci and not three.
An allele is one or two or more forms of the DNA sequence of a particular gene, where each gene can have different alleles.
NONENor Aidora, 38, the sixth prosecution witness, had testified that according to the Genetic Analyser machine, a percentage of 15 to 20 is considered a starter which she consider the allele of 18 to be one (a starter).
A starter is a negligible peak in the graph which is used to indicate the next allele to be the right reading.
When asked to calculate the percentage of the 18 alleles by Ram, Nor Aidora agreed it showed a 25 percentage, which is higher than the 15 to 20 percentage to be considered a starter.
Despite this fact, and what is stated in the manual for the Genetic Analyser machine purchased by the Chemistry Department from Applied Biosystem, the witness stood her ground to maintain it came from a single person.
According to the machine's guideline as pointed out by Ram, she had to take into consideration of this discrepancy and should have done further tests.
On Wednesday, she testified that she had found a compatibility from 10 samples which she found by swabbing the 'good morning' towel, white toothbrush, and the mineral water bottle, to that of 'Male Y'.
She had testified that she had divided the rectangular towel into four portions, for the toothbrush she took a swab from the handle and the bristles, while from the mineral water bottle, she took a swab from the bottle, mouth of the bottle and cap.
The unidentified 'Male Y' semen is said to be found in the low rectal area of sodomy victim Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
Degradation test not performed
The court had earlier this week heard the possibility of one of the high rectal swab to contain Saiful's semen, as the chemist's report on the sperm extract had detected the allele of 12 and 13 which another chemist, Dr Seah Lay Hong, had identified as unique to that of the complainant (Saiful).
Nor Aidora also testified that she did not perform degradation tests on the samples as she had obtained what she described as “perfect DNA”.
Degradation tests are conducted to get rid the risks reading of contamination.
Ram pointed out that according to Seah's profile of 'Male Y', the person does not have the 18 allele, to which Nor Aidora concurred.
However, she ruled out that the sample which she retrieved is contaminated.
When asked why she had not taken samples from investigating officer DSP Jude Blacious Pereira or other police officers who may have delivered the sample, to rule out the contaminants, the witness agreed she had not done so.
On re-examination by DPP Noorin Badaruddin, she maintained her findings to be that the DNA which she swabbed came from a single contributor or source.
In explaining, Nor Aidora said the STR locus tables should be looked at as a whole, and not focus on a loci which is different.
In explaining again her finding and repeating what she had said, Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah snapped “cukuplah” (enough), to laughter in the court room.
The witness also testified she received the POL 31 police request form from Jude and not from his immediate section head Lim Kong Boon.
Despite Nor Aidora finished her findings today, her chemist's report marked ID 57 by the court had yet to be marked as evidence. This follows the defence objecting to the findings as it was not determined where the police obtained the mineral water bottle, toothbrush and towel, which were handed to the chemist on July 17, 2008.
Anwar, at the height of the sodomy II allegations, was placed overnight at Hospital Kuala Lumpur on July 16, 2008, and when he was released the next day the Permatang Pauh MP denied giving any DNA sample. |
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