Prosecution's appeal against acquittal of Samirah, teenagers, set for case management on Monday

PUTRAJAYA: The prosecution's appeal against the acquittal of Samirah Muzaffar and two teenagers from the charge of murdering Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan has been set for case management on Monday.

Rahmat Mohamed Hazlan, one of their lawyers, when contacted, confirmed the case management on Sept 5 will be conducted via Zoom before a Court of Appeal deputy registrar.

On June 21, this year, the Shah Alam High Court acquitted and discharged Samirah, 47, who is Nazrin's widow and the two teenagers aged 19 and 16 after finding that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the trio.

High Court judge Datuk Ab Karim Ab Rahman held that there was no direct evidence to show that the three of them had committed the offence.

In his decision, the judge ruled that the evidence that Samirah and the teenagers were the last persons with the Nazrin, cannot be said to lead to his murder.

Samirah and the two teenagers, as well as an Indonesian woman, Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large, were charged with murdering Nazrin, 45, at his house in Mutiara Damansara between 11.30 pm on June 13, 2018 and 4 am the following day.

On June 23, the Attorney-General's Chambers filed its notice of appeal against the High Court's decision to acquit Samirah and the teenagers from the murder charge.

Meanwhile, on June 30, Samirah and the teenagers also filed an appeal to challenge certain of the High Court's findings of facts including the findings that the fire which broke out in Nazrin's room was "done deliberately".

The High Court judge, in his oral judgment, had said the court accepted the testimonies of the Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department director Edwin Galan Teruki and investigating officer Halim Zulkefeli, in which they concluded that the fire was deliberately lit.

-- BERNAMA