PUTRAJAYA, Sept 19 — The Court of Appeal was told today that someone had deliberately locked the door of the burning room where the body of Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan was found, from the outside, to stage a crime scene.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mohd Amril Johari explained that the doorknob could not possibly have been locked from the inside because the fire had not spread to the door.

Also, he said that the burning of the knob was deliberate to give the impression that it was locked by fire, as there was no fire on the door, only traces of soot.

"It was a preparation to create a staged crime scene,” he said.

Mohd Amril was giving his submission in the prosecution’s appeal against the decision of the Shah Alam High Court to acquitting Samirah Muzaffar, 48, who is also Nazrin’s widow, and two teenagers, who are now aged 20 and 17, of murdering Nazrin.

Meanwhile, Mohd Amril said the second pathologist, Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar found that there was a post-mortem effect of hypostasis on the back of the body which showed that the victim’s body had been moved.

"Not only this, but the presence of blood spatter on the wall at the bed headboard, which was later confirmed positive for the deceased’s deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), proves this. How can blood be found on the wall when the body of the deceased was on the floor?

"The discovery of bloodstains fits the impact of a blunt object and not the impact of a gunshot or an explosion,” he said.

Another DPP, Tengku Intan Suraya Tengku Ismail argued that the injuries on the body did not fit an explosion.

"If there was an explosion (by a mobile phone), the victim’s ear would have ripped off. Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist Dr Zulkiflee Abu Bakar had testified that Nazrin’s ears were intact,” he said.

A three-judge panel led by Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, sitting together with Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli, set October 17 to continue hearing the submission.

On June 21, 2022, Shah Alam High Court freed Samirah, and the two teenagers, after finding that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case at the end of their case against the trio.

The three of them and an Indonesian woman, Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large, were charged with killing Nazrin, 45, at his house in Mutiara Damansara between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am the following day. — Bernama