Cradle CEO murder: Federal Court allows widow bail of RM500k (updated)

PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): The Federal Court has allowed Samirah Muzaffar, the wife of the late Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan, to be released on bail of RM500,000 with two sureties pending her murder trial.

Federal Court judge Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed, who chaired a five-man bench, also imposed several conditions on Samirah,  including surrendering her passport to the court and reporting to the police station once in two weeks.

He also said Samirah, 44, a former senior executive at Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO), must remain indoors from 6pm to 8am.
She is also prevented from attending public places and functions, except for family and religious matters.

"The applicant (Samirah) is also not to leave Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya without leave of the court," said Justice Azahar on Tuesday (May 28).

Samirah, two teenagers, aged 14 and 17, and Indonesian national Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large, were charged with the murder of Nazrin, 47, at a house in Mutiara Homes, Mutiara Damansara, between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018 and 4am on June 14, 2018.

The charge, under Section 302 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 34 of the same Code, provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
On March 27, this year, the High Court in Shah Alam granted bail of RM50,000 in two sureties each to the two teenage boys.

In allowing Samirah's application to be released on bail pending trial, Justice Azahar said the High Court judge failed to address the provision of Section 388(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows a woman who is facing a charge for non-bailable offence, to be released on bail, pending trial.

He said there were favourable circumstances to Samirah, which were not adequately considered by the High Court, including that she has two young children below the age of five who required her care.

Justice Azahar said Samirah had also given full cooperation during police investigations, which was also not adequately considered by the High Court judge.
He said the possibility of Samirah tampering potential witnesses in the trial was a vague assertion.

Justice Azahar said the High Court judge had failed to exercise his discretion judiciously when he disallowed Samirah's bail application.

The other judges on the bench were Justices Ramly Ali, Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin, Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim.

Samirah filed an application for bail at the Federal Court after the High Court and Court of Appeal rejected her application.
Her murder trial is fixed for Sept 3.