PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal was told on Tuesday (Sept 5) that Samirah Muzaffar and two teenagers are not directly linked to the murder of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan. Counsel Rahmat Mohamed Hazlan, speaking for the three, argued that the prosecution’s “last-seen” theory is based on assumptions and lacks concrete evidence.
Rahmat highlighted that the accused individuals provided consistent statements during their interrogations, with the two minors being questioned separately in the absence of adults. Samirah stated that she last saw Nazrin alive on June 14, 2018, at 9.30 am when she took her children downstairs and closed the doors without locking them. Earlier that morning, she saw him at 8.15 am and at 6.15 am after having her pre-dawn meal. The statements of both teenagers aligned with Samirah’s account.
Rahmat contended that the “last-seen” theory should be analyzed alongside the prosecution’s overall case. He emphasized that the court should also consider the nature of the relationship between the accused and the deceased. If a good relationship existed, the “last-seen” evidence would remain as mere suspicion, and conviction solely based on that would be unsafe.
On Sept 4, Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim argued that Samirah and the two teenagers should be held responsible for Nazrin’s death since they were the last people seen with him. The panel of three judges, led by Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, alongside Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli, scheduled Sept 19 for further submission hearings.
On June 21, 2022, the Shah Alam High Court acquitted and discharged Samirah, who is Nazrin’s widow, and the two teenagers of the murder charges due to the prosecution’s failure to present a prima facie case against them. Samirah, the teenagers, and an Indonesian woman named Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is currently at large, were charged with murdering Nazrin between 11.30 pm on June 13, 2018, and 4 am the following day, at his house in Mutiara Damansara.
On June 23, 2022, the Attorney General’s Chambers filed an appeal against the High Court’s decision to acquit Samirah and the teenagers. Furthermore, on June 30, 2022, Samirah and the teenagers lodged an appeal challenging certain factual findings made by the High Court, including the assertion that the fire in Nazrin’s room was deliberately started. – Bernama
Credit: The Star : News Feed
