THE youngest son of murder accused Samirah Muzaffar filed a police report in September last year claiming he was lied to by interrogating officers, the Shah Alam High Court heard today.

Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asked witness Inspector Anestassia Chin Fat if she was aware that the boy had lodged the police report in which he had alleged that he was questioned by three to five police officers in the interrogation room.

The court heard that the boy had also stated in the report that the interrogators had told him to cooperate if he wished to be released soon.

Anestassia, who was the fifth witness in the murder trial of the widow of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan, was recalled today to be cross-examined.

The witness, who is attached to the Kinabatangan district police station, said she did not know about the boy’s allegations.

“The boy was remanded from September 9 to September 12 last year,” Shafee told the court.

“In his police report which he lodged on September 22, he claimed that he was questioned by three to five police officers in the interrogation room. He was asked to cooperate and tell them things if he wanted to be released.

“After he was released, he realised that the police had lied to him. The police said bad things about his mother, saying she was an archer since secondary school and that she went out to buy petrol at 6am on June 14 last year.

“Police also said she does not care about her son.”

Shafee asked Anestassia if it was normal for an underage boy to be questioned by police officers without an adult present.

She said she was not aware of the existence of such a rule (that a minor must be accompanied by an adult during interrogation).

However, when re-examined by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah, Anestassia said the boy was not urged to confess and that he was able to communicate with her in Bahasa Malaysia when she questioned him last year.

“Although he was fluent in English, he was able to speak to me and reply my questions in Malay. He was not under stress and I can remember he was relaxed. He also did not complain to me about being coaxed to cooperate,” said Anestassia.

Asnawi then asked Anestassia why she had filed the case as a sudden death report (SDR) on the day of the incident.

She replied she came to that conclusion because no sign of crime was found at the scene and the firefighters could not yet determine the cause of fire.

“There was no break-in, so there was no criminal element. Firefighters could not specifically tell me what had caused the fire.

“Therefore, I classified the case as SDR,” Anestassia said.

Samirah, 44, and her two sons, aged 14 and 17, are charged with the murder of Nazrin. Their maid, an Indonesian named Eka Wahyu Lestari is accused of the same but is still at large.

They are charged with committing the offence at a house in Mutiara Homes, Mutiara Damansara between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am on June 14,2018.

The trial resumes this afternoon. – October 3, 2019.