No evidence shows Samirah, two teenagers murdered Cradle Fund CEO - Judge
Bernama
Jun 21, 2022
No evidence shows Samirah, two teenagers murdered Cradle Fund CEO - Judge
The ex-wife of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan, Samirah Muzaffar, was present for the verdict in the murder case of Cradle Fund CEO at the Shah Alam High Court. - Astro AWANI/Shahir Omar
SHAH ALAM: The High Court here today ruled the evidence that Samirah Muzaffar and two teenagers were the last people with the deceased, cannot be said to lead to the offence of murdering Cradle Fund chief executive officer (CEO) Nazrin Hassan.
Judge Datuk Ab Karim Ab Rahman said the evidence must have continuity to Samirah, 47, and two teenagers (now aged 19 and 16) on the murder charges.
ADVERTISING
"In this case, there is no direct evidence to show that the three of them committed the offence (murder) and there is no continuity between the times of the incident with the three of them.
"Thus, the court found that the prosecution only 'assumed', the last time the deceased was with the accused and the two children at the time stated in the charge.
"Assuming it is a suspicion, it is not a real piece of evidence.
"Therefore, the court found that the prosecution had failed to prove the theory of the last person with the deceased," he said when reading out his judgment for an hour.
Ab Karim also said that the prosecution had outlined some of the behaviours as part of the evidence.
"The behaviour of not contacting the fire department, no sad reaction, not moaning in the hearse... were all more to the perception of the prosecution and it is irrelevant, in fact some of the behaviour cannot be explained through the prosecution witnesses.
"Similarly, the behaviour of child 1 who did not leave the house and the WhatsApp message 'what's the plan' is not acceptable. The behaviour of child 2, about the phone exploding is not clear, " he said.
In addition, Ab Karim said the court found that the time of the incident from 1.30 am to 4 am, June 14, 2018 was contrary to the evidence of prosecution witnesses and did not convince the court.
Therefore, he said, the prosecution failed to show the victim's death at between 11.30 pm, June 13, 2018 to 4 am, June 14, 2018 (as in the charge).
On Samirah's petrol can, Ab Karim said the court found that the evidence on petrol did not show any connection with the accused.
"Besides, a chemist was not called to testify on the matter," he said.
The judge said the court found that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against the three of them.
"Therefore, the accused, child 1 and child 2 were discharged and acquitted on the murder charges," he said.
During the proceedings, Samirah who wore a face mask sat inside the dock while the two teenagers who also wore face masks sat outside the dock next to the woman.
Samirah and the two teenagers as well as an Indonesian who is still at large, Eka Wahyu Lestari, were charged with killing Nazrin, 45, at a house in Mutiara Damansara between 11.30 pm on June 13, 2018 and 4 am on June 14, 2018.
They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code which provides for the death penalty upon conviction.
However, Section 97 (1) of the Children Act 2001 provides that offenders under the age of 18 shall not be liable to the death penalty and may be substituted with detention at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan or Yang di-Pertua Negeri, according to the place the offence was committed as provided in Section 97 (2) of the same act.
On Feb 14, the prosecution closed its case after calling 57 witnesses including the deceased's brother and sister, Dr Abdul Aziz, Dr Malek Reedzwan and Che Elainee; Kuala Lumpur Fire Department director Edwin Galan Anak Teruki; Kuala Lumpur Hospital Pathology Forensic officer Dr Siew Sheue Feng; Dr Prashant Sanberker as well as the security guard of the residence of the deceased, Raju Kumar Pandit.
The trial of Samirah, who is accused of killing her husband, began on Sept 6, 2019.
The prosecution team comprised Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah, Tengku Intan Suraya Tengku Ismail and Nur Sabrina Zubairi while the defence team comprised Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Rahmat Hazlan, LS. Leonard, S. Suresh, Savreena Kaur and Zahria Eleena Redza.
-- BERNAMA
