SEREMBAN: A man, whose two young children drowned after the car they were in plunged into Sungai Linggi, has claimed trial to a charge of causing their death.
Abdul Rahman Mahmud, 46, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to him before judge Surita Budin in the Sessions Court.
Deputy public prosecutor M. Pusppa asked the court for a next mention date as the forensic, chemist and Puspakom reports were not ready.
She also told the court that the accused was not offered bail as he posed a flight risk.
“If this happens, it will make the prosecution’s case difficult,” she said.
The accused, who was unrepresented, pleaded for bail as he wanted to visit his children’s graves.
Surita denied this request, fixing Nov 10 for next mention for submission of documents and to allow him to appoint counsel.
The two siblings, aged six and eight, drowned on Sept 4 at the Sungai Linggi estuary. Also in the car was a woman believed to be the man’s lover.
The siblings were resting in the car next to the river with the couple just before the tragedy.
Based on the police’s preliminary probe, the man had exited the car to have a cigarette when the vehicle began rolling towards the river.
Passersby managed to save the woman, but the children were trapped in the vehicle.
When met at another event later, state police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Alzafny Ahmad said police have released the surviving 41-year-old woman on a bond.
The woman, who is under remand, will appear in court as a prosecution witness, he added.
