Rina said in a posting on social media that she would seek an audience with Tunku Ismail, who is the Tunku Mahkota of Johor, to brief him and his wife on measures taken by her ministry on the trial.

Bella, a teenager with Down Syndrome, was alleged to have been abused while in the care of welfare home Rumah Bonda. The home’s founder, Siti Bainun Ahd Razali, 30, has been on trial on two charges of neglect and abuse.

Rina said Tunku Ismail’s offer of his lawyers’ services, to hold a watching brief for the ministry at the trial, was helpful in efforts to uphold justice for Bella. The ministry would work closely with his lawyers, she said.

The case went viral on social media last year when a woman claimed that the teenager was scalded with hot water and was tied while under the care of Rumah Bonda, a welfare home founded by Siti Bainun.

The offences were alleged to have taken place at a condominium in Wangsa Maju here between February and June 2021.

Siti Bainun has pleaded not guilty to the charges.