PUTRAJAYA, Aug 14 — The Federal Court has fixed three days from November 10 onwards to hear the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal of Samirah Muzaffar and two teenagers, who were charged with the murder of former Cradle Fund chief executive officer (CEO) Nazrin Hassan.
Wan Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman, one of the lawyers representing the accused and the two teenagers, confirmed the hearing dates when contacted by Bernama.
The hearing dates — November 10, November 11, and November 12 — were fixed during case management before Federal Court deputy registrars Wan Fatimah Zaharah Wan Yussof and Mahyun Yusof today.
On February 8 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the Shah Alam High Court’s decision to acquit and discharge Samirah and the two teenagers on the murder charge.
On June 21, 2022, the High Court freed the trio without asking them to enter their defence, after the prosecution failed to prove a prima facie case against them.
Samirah, 50, who is Nazrin’s widow, the teenagers (now 22 and 19), and an Indonesian woman Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large, were charged with killing Nazrin, 45, at his house in Mutiara Damansara between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am the following day.
In upholding their acquittal, the Court of Appeal held that there was insufficient evidence to determine the guilt of the accused.
It also ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the fire was deliberately started, as there was contradicting evidence from the Chemical Department of Malaysia and the Fire and Rescue Department's investigators.
The court held that the testimony surrounding the petrol and the analysis done on it did not use certified methods, and the investigators had skipped crucial steps needed for the analysis of the petrol.
