PUTRAJAYA: The prosecution in Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan’s murder appeal told the Court of Appeal that he did not die from any blast attributable to an exploding powerbank or overcharged handphone at his home five years ago.
Deputy public prosecutor Tengku Intan Suraya Tengku Ismail told the court that ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist Dr Zulkiflee Abu Bakar had testified that Nazrin’s ears were intact.
She added that a blast would have ripped the deceased’s ears off.
Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera then asked the prosecution to explain why forensic pathologist Dr Siew Sheue Feng wrote in his report that Nazrin died due to “a complication of blunt and blast penetrating injuries”.
In answer, Intan admitted that Siew reached the conclusion due to a lack of information at the material time.
Vazeer: Did you ask Siew if his findings were wrong?
Tengku Intan: We never asked him this.
Nazrin’s wife Samirah Muzaffar, two teenage boys and Indonesian maid Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is at large, were charged with murder over the CEO’s death.
The boys cannot be identified as they were minors at the time.
The Shah Alam High Court freed them last year after ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove the murder charge against them, giving rise to the present appeal.
The prosecution had previously told the appeals court that the trio should be held responsible for Nazrin’s death.
However, their lawyers submitted that the prosecution had failed to prove any motive for the alleged crime.
DPP Amril Johari also told the court today that an unknown person had locked the door to Nazrin’s room from the outside. He pointed out that debris was found only on the doorknob, and not the door itself.
The hearing will continue on Oct 17 after the court was told that one of the teenage accused persons would be going to the UK for his studies this week.
Lawyer Shafee Abdullah, representing Samirah and the boys, told the court that the boy had given an undertaking that he would attend court proceedings via Zoom.
Other judges who sat with Vazeer to hear the appeal were Justices Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Azhahari Kamal Ramli.