SHAH ALAM: A decision on whether Samirah Muzaffar and two teenagers charged with murdering Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan, will be freed or ordered to defend themselves will be made on May 30.

       High Court judge Ab Karim Ab Rahman fixed the date after hearing submissions from both sides at the end of the prosecution’s case.

       Submissions were made over four days from the start on April 7.

       The prosecution team comprised DPPs Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah, Tengku Intan Suraya Tengku Ismail and Nur Sabrina Abu Bakar, while the defence lawyers were Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Rahmat Hazlan.

       Tengku Intan Suraya, in her submission earlier, argued that the “staged crime scene” theory stated by the forensic pathology officer at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, Dr Prashant Sanberker, was justified as it was backed by explanations and findings during a visit to the scene.

       “The testimony on the theory is based on the discovery of two different patterns or post-mortem hypostasis, on the back of the deceased. This pattern takes up to six hours to exist and from the next six to 12 hours to become fixed.

       “If the body is removed, the second shape will follow the first shape and if the deceased died on the floor, as found, there will only be one shape on the back of the deceased’s body,” she said, adding that apart from observing the pictures provided, the witness also visited the scene on Oct 4, 2018.

       Muhammad Shafee submitted that the prosecution consistently made a bare assertion that it was a “staged crime scene”, but failed to define or elaborate on what they meant by “staged” and what it encompassed.

       “For example, is the prosecution claiming that the staging was for an ‘accident’ or ‘phone explosion’. With this ambiguity itself, the prosecution’s submission about a ‘staged crime scene’ ought to be dismissed,” he said.

       Muhammad Shafee said Samirah was asked by police officer Sjn Abdul Rahim Taha whether she heard an explosion, to which she said she did not.

       “If Samirah wanted to cover up a murder with an accident or ‘stage’ an accident, Samirah would have said ‘yes’ that there was an explosion. In fact, on June 15, 2018, news about the fire and phone exploding was already out in public,” he said.

       On March 12, 2019, Samirah, 47, and the two teenagers, now aged 19 and 16, and an Indonesian woman, Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large, were all charged with murdering Nazrin at his house in Mutiara Damansara, between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am the following day. — Bernama