MURDER accused Samirah Muzaffar was frantic and screamed for help for her husband to be saved when their home was on fire on June 14, 2018, the High Court heard today.

Samirah is accused with her two teenage sons of killing her husband, Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan, and covering it up by saying that he had died in the fire caused by an exploded handphone.

Nepali security guard Raju Kumar Pandit, who is the fourth witness of the trial, told the Shah Alam High Court that Samirah pleaded with him to save her husband who was in the room at the upper floor of their house in Mutiara Damansara.

“As I entered the gate of the house, Samirah was at the porch crying and screaming for help. I entered the house and I went up to the upper floor.

“A neighbour was already there and she gave me a tool which I used to break the door knob.

“Samirah shouted, ‘My husband, my husband is in the room’,” said Raju.

Raju also told the court that one of Samirah’s sons shouted: “My father, tomorrow is Hari Raya (Eid celebration).”

He said this to a question from lead defence lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Raju described that the room was already filled with smoke and the fire was raging.

“The fire was getting bigger and the smoke was very thick. The wife tried to enter but I had to pull her out because it was dangerous to go in,” Raju told the court before Justice Ab Karim Ab Rahman.

He then said he contacted the Fire and Rescue Department using a mobile phone from his company.

However, Raju could not remember if he made a phone call to the police station.

Samirah and her two sons aged 14 and 16, have been charged with killing Nazrin between June 13 and 14, 2018 at their home in Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

Nazrin’s family had from the onset said he died after a handphone charging next to him exploded, causing the fire. Cradle Fund had also issued a statement attributing its CEO’s death to blast injuries from an exploding handphone.

It was later discovered that Nazrin had injuries to his neck, believed to have been caused by an arrow. 

Meanwhile, during the morning session, Shafee revealed that Nazrin had lodged a police report in October 2015 claiming that his home was broken into.

Shafee asked Raju, who was the chief security guard, if he was aware of the report.

“Were you aware that Nazrin lodged a police report in October 2015, just a month after you were hired as the security guard, that his home was broken in and things were stolen from his home,” Shafee asked.

Raju replied that he was in the dark over the incident but admitted that from 2015 to 2018 he had been giving the police several statements in regards to similar incidents.

“I cannot remember (about Nazrin’s police report) but I was called up by the cops to give statements several times after other owners lodged similar police reports about the homes,” he told the court through an interpreter.

Today is the second day of Nazrin’s murder trial. It started last Friday with three police witnesses.

The prosecution is led by Raja Rozela Raja Toran, and assisted by deputy public prosecutors Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah, Ashraf Ashyari, Noor Mawarni Halim and Wan Shahida Wan Omar.

The defence comprises of Shafee, L.S. Leonard, S. Suresh, Rahmat Hazlan, Savreena Kaur, Mardhiyah Siraj and Zahriah Eleena Redza.

Counsel Arif Zain Yusof Alia and Selvi Sandrasegaran are holding a watching brief for the family and the Indonesian embassy, respectively. 

The trial resumes next Friday. – September 13, 2019.