The prosecution will prove that Cradle Fund chief executive Nazrin Hassan was murdered and his body set on fire by his own family to conceal their crime, in the trial of the widow and his two stepsons that commenced today.
Nazrin’s shocking death was not from a fire that broke out while he was asleep but from blunt force trauma, the High Court heard today.
The fire was to destroy any evidence that might otherwise shed light on the real cause of his death, the prosecution posited at the start of the murder trial.
The person behind it all was his widow, Samirah Muzaffar, standing in the dock, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran.
“The prosecution will prove that the murder happened between 11.30pm and 4am, on June 13 and 14, 2018, in the master bedroom.”
“The prosecution will prove that through testimonies from forensic experts that the deceased had died from blunt force to the deceased’s head and this blunt force, as a rule, can cause death to the deceased.
“Testimonies will show that the deceased did not die in the fire. The deceased had died before the fire occurred and the fire was deliberately started to hide the actual cause of death of the deceased,” she said in her opening remarks before judge Datuk Ab Karim Ab Rahman.
Raja Rozela said the prosecution will also rely on Section 34 of the Penal Code, which states: “When a criminal act is done by several persons, in furtherance of the common intention of all, each of such persons is liable for that act in the same manner as if the act were done by him alone.”
She said the first post-mortem report stated the cause of death was from complications from a blast to the head, and a second post-mortem three months later showed multiple blunt injuries to the head.
The second post-mortem was requested by the victim’s brother. The blast mentioned refers to the family’s claim at the onset that a charged handphone next to Nazrin’s head had exploded.
This morning the court also heard from two police witnesses from the Criminal Investigation Department technical assistance division.
Lance Corporal Nazrin Zakaria from the Petaling Jaya police station told the court that he saw blood at the scene, including under the body of the deceased.
He was ordered by investigating officer Nizam Daud to photograph the scene and evidence inside the house in Mutiara Damansara.
“On June 14 at about 3pm I was instructed to capture the images at the crime scene and to gather pictures of evidence at the home. As I enter the room, I saw a body lying next to the bed.”
“The wall was black due to the smoke and there was blood at the crime scene and also under the body,” said the second witness to questions from defence lawyer LS Leonard.
The other police witness, Corporal Mahadin Bakar, told the court that on November 5, 2018, he and Nizam and a team of forensic personnel from Bukit Aman had gone to the home a second time to take some more pictures. They were accompanied by two doctors from the University Malaya Medical Centre.
Mahadin said he went to the house to take photos the first time on August 21.
“On this second visit, the IO (Nizam) asked me to take pictures of a bloodstain on the wall in the room. There were two doctors and a team of forensic (experts) from Bukit Aman,” he said in reply to lead defence counsel Mohamad Shafee Abdullah.
Shafee asked Mahadin if he had seen the bloodstain during his first visit to the house on August 21.
“I can’t recall, I think I didn’t see it during the first time,” he said.
Samirah, 44, is one of four people accused of killing Nazrin, 47, alongside two juveniles aged 14 and 17 who cannot be named, and an Indonesian Eka Wahyu Lestari who is still at large.
All four are charged with murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read with Section 34 of the same Act, which provides for the mandatory death sentence if found guilty.