SHAH ALAM, May 15 — The High Court was today told that three fire origins were detected in the fire that broke out at the home of Cradle Fund chief executive officer (CEO) Nazrin Hassan about two years ago.

Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department director (Fire Safety) Edwin Galan Teruki, who is the 20th prosecution witness, said based on the investigation, the marks on the fire origin were found on Nazrin’s head, the right side of the mattress and at the headboard of the bed.

"At the first fire origin, firefighters found mass loss of material on the fabric and a trace of soot on the victim’s head and floor. In the second fire origin, mass loss of material was found on the right side of the mattress indicating it was exposed to a very strong fire.

"At the third fire origin at the headboard of the bed, While at the third cause of the fire at the head of the bed, a deep soot effect of 0.7 millimetres was found compared to 0.3mm that was found in other areas,” he said when reading out his witness statement before judge  Ab Karim Ab Rahman today.

Edwin also said that analysis of the fire sample also found the effects of flammable liquid such as petrol. In fact, scanning was conducted on a Blackberry handphone claimed to be the cause of the fire and it was found that the structure was not damaged, but only a slight loss of material of the telephone casing. 

He said based on the findings of the investigation and discussions with investigating officer at the Fire and Rescue Department Abdul Halim Zulkefeli and several other officials, they agreed that the fire was deliberate.

Following which, he said, further investigation was conducted, during which several analyses were made, including reconstructing them fire and interviewing the witnesses.

A report on the investigation was submitted to the Petaling Jaya district police chief, he added.

On March 12 last year, Samirah Muzaffar, 45, who is a former senior executive at the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO), and two teenagers aged 17 and 14, were charged, along with Indonesian citizen, Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large, with Nazrin’s murder.

They are alleged to have committed the offence at a house in Mutiara Homes, Mutiara Damansara, between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am on June 14, 2018.

They are charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, and face the mandatory death sentence if found guilty.

The hearing continues on May 22. — Bernama