Altantuya Shaariibuu’s son told the Shah Alam High Court today that their family went through a lot of difficulties and had a challenging life after her death.
Testifying as the fourth witness in the family’s RM100 million suit, Mungunshagai Bayarjargal, who was nine at the time, said he had a tough time coping with his mother’s demise.
“It was very hurtful when people around me were always talking about her murder in Malaysia, especially in Ulaanbaatar, where the community is small, and everyone knows each other. It was totally unbearable for me as a young child.
“For the first three years or so, I had to spend my three summer vacations living with relatives in the countryside just to escape the gossip over my mother’s murder in Malaysia.
“It was a very lonely, painful and sad time growing up as I remember clearly listening to my friends’ parents telling their children not to play with me just because my mother was murdered in Malaysia,” he said.
He also revealed that he was forced to change his birth name following controversies surrounding the murder.
Bayarkhuu Bayarjargal, 21, said he was given the name Mungunshagai Bayarjargal at birth but changed it about five years after his mother’s death in 2006.
“I had to change my name due to the negative attention I suffered after the death of my mother.
“As a result of all the negative publicity, I was often teased and bullied in school and picked on,” said Bayarkhuu.
“After years of enduring this, my grandfather and I discussed it and decided that it would be best for me to change my name.”
The hearing before justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera continues tomorrow.
Earlier reports:
Jan 30, Threat to Throw Altantuya from Building
Jan 30, Cousin Insists Altantuya Worked as Translator for Submarine Deal
Jan 28, Altantuya’s Father: We All Died with Her
Jan 25, Testimony of Altantuya’s Father
Jan 24, Hanipa: Najib or Altantuya’s Cousin, Who Lied?
Jan 23, Najib: Lies, Never Met Her, Responding to Claims of He in Photo with Altantuya