The Federal Court dismisses the final appeal, upholding the acquittal of Samirah Muzaffar and two teenagers for the 2018 murder of Nazrin Hassan.
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has upheld the acquittal of Samirah Muzaffar and two teenagers for the murder of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan eight years ago.
A three-judge panel led by Court of Appeal President Datuk Abu Bakar Jais unanimously dismissed the prosecution’s final appeal.
The panel, which also included Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan, affirmed the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit and discharge the trio.
On February 8, 2024, the Court of Appeal had upheld a Shah Alam High Court ruling clearing Samirah, who is Nazrin’s widow, and the two youths, now aged 20 and 23.
Samirah, 51, and the teenagers were charged together with an Indonesian woman, Eka Wahyu Lestari, who remains at large.
They were accused of murdering 45-year-old Nazrin at his Mutiara Damansara residence between 11.30 pm on June 13, 2018 and 4 am the following day.
In delivering the judgment, Justice Abu Bakar said the court found no error in the grounds given by both the High Court and the Court of Appeal in acquitting the three respondents of the charge.
“Based on the appellant’s (prosecution) written and oral submissions as well as those of the respondents, we are unable to find that the prosecution had established a prima facie case at the close of its case.
“The prosecution failed, among others, to prove that the three accused had a common intention to cause injury which eventually led to death,” he said.
Justice Abu Bakar also said that the circumstantial evidence did not establish a prima facie case at the close of the prosecution’s case, particularly with the presence of a fourth individual in the house at the material time.
“Overall, we are unanimous in upholding the decisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and in dismissing the appellant’s appeal,” he said.
