Emotional first day for Azizul and Shalwati in court

The first day of the trial of Malaysian couple, Azizul Raheem Awaluddin and Shalwati Nor Shal, accused of abusing their four children ended in an emotional note.

Not only did the day began with Shalwati getting choked up seeing her husband Azizul for the first time since being detained in December 2013, she also teared up hearing her lawyer, Kristofer Stahre, read an apology note from her eldest son, Ammar, 12 years old.

The note read:

Mummy, I’m sorry. It was my anger that started this. I will always love you and nothing will change that. Love, Ammar. PS: I will always love you.

The note, which was left out by the prosecutor, Anna Arnell, in her collection of evidence, was asked to be included by Stahre because it showed that Ammar was driven by exaggerated emotions when he told people that he was abused by his mother.

Azizul, who remained composed the first half of the day, eventually had to force himself to look down and away when the prosecutor presented the video testimony of their youngest son, Arif, who is 7 years old.

The videos were shot on three different occasions when an investigating officer, assisted by an English interpreter, interviewed Arif about the different times his parents allegedly abused him. The videos were strikingly uncomfortable to watch due to the confused look of Arif almost throughout all the videos when he was being questioned.

Although he mentioned several occasions of being hit by a cane, hanger and open hand by his mother because he didn’t want to read the Quran, and pinching by his father for not wanting to pray, a majority of his answers to the officer’s questions were, “I don’t know” and “I forgot”.

According to Stahre, the method of questioning by the investigating officer was unprofessional and if it were done in court in front of a judge, it would almost definitely be disallowed. The insistent and repetitive questioning also showed desperation in getting desired answers.

The second day of trial will most probably see the continuation of video testimonies of the couple’s other three children, Aishah, 14, Ammar, 12, and Adam, 11. All four children are now back in Malaysia under the care of an aunty in Kelantan. They were brought home by Deputy Foreign Minister, Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin last month.

The trial is expected to take ten days and the last day will be on March 10, 2014. Both Azizul and Shalwati have pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been detained since December 18, 2013.