The Shah Alam High Court has denied bail for Samirah Muzaffar, the widow of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan who is awaiting trial for murder.
Judge Ab Karim Ab Rahman said Samirah had failed to show the court why she should be granted bail.
“The accuse mentioned that she could not prepare her defence (for the murder case) while in detention.
“But she can still meet her lawyers in prison although she is subject to prison regulations,” he said.
The judge then set September 3 to 15 and September 23 to October 4 for the hearing of the murder case.
Meanwhile, veteran lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah who is representing the accused said he will file an appeal for his client on the decision to deny her bail.
Shafee claimed that prison officers had removed certain parts of her letters to her lawyers.
“It is a serious breach of her fundamental rights to seek legal advice,” he said during the court proceedings.
Deputy public prosecutor Zain Ibrahim defended the prison officials’ action, saying that the officers were merely exercising their discretion in removing the content.
Last week, the same high court released two of Samirah’s teenage sons on bail as they stand trial for the murder of their stepfather.
Justice Ab Karim imposed RM50,000 bail each, with two different sureties for both boys.
The judge also instructed several conditions for the boys to follow, including to hand over their international passports.
On March 12, the two boys – both not named as they are juveniles – and Samirah were jointly charged with the murder.
Samirah’s Indonesian maid, Eka Wahayu Lestari, was also charged in absentia.
The trio claimed trial. Bail is normally not offered in murder cases.
The four were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code to be read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum death sentence.
No plea was recorded from the 43-year-old woman and the two siblings.
The charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Samirah was accused along with two teenagers of killing Nazrin at their home in Mutiara Damansara in June last year.
The youths, aged 14 and 17, were freed last month on bail of RM50,000 each.
Nazrin’s case was initially classified as sudden death. However, police reclassified it as murder after investigations found traces of gasoline at the scene.