Sosilawati's children finally get mom's death certificate

High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) Judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamad made the decision after allowing their application for a judicial review to compel the National Registration Department (NRD) to issue a death certificate for their mother.

The court also ordered the NRD's Births, Deaths and Adoptions Division director to issue the death certificate within 14 days from today.

In making the decision, she said the court had adopted the judgement of the Shah Alam High Court Judge who, on May 23, 2013, had convicted four men of killing Sosilawati and three others.

She said based on the judgement, the court found that the bloodstains found on the zinc sheet matched that of another person who was also killed while accompanying Sosilawati at the scene.

Asmabi said the two accused had also pleaded guilty of torching the bodies of Sosilawati and the three others before disposing of their ashes in a river.

The millionaire's children, who were not present during the proceeding today, were represented by their lawyer Mohd Iskandar Ismail, while the NRD was represented by senior federal counsel Maisarah Juhari.

The children — Erwan Suwari Rizuwan Buhari, 29, Md Erwan Nasri, 28, Erni Erinawati Sofia, 26, Erni Rineelawati, 25, and Siti Nur Fatimah, 18 — filed the application on Sept 24 last year, naming NRD as the sole respondent.

They are seeking, among others, an order to dismiss the NRD's decision on July 25, 2014, not to issue a death certificate for Sosilawati.

In a letter to NRD, the children stated that they needed the death certificate to enable them to distribute their mother's estate to the deceased's next of kin.

On May 23 last year, the Shah Alam High Court sentenced to death a former lawyer, N Pathmanabhan, and his three plantation workers — T Thilaiyalagan, R Matan and R Kathavarayan, 33 — after finding them guilty of murdering Sosilawati, 47, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and Sosilawati’s driver, Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44.