SHAH ALAM: One of the boys accused of murdering his stepfather, Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan last year, claimed that police had lied to him by speaking negatively of his mother, Samirah Muzaffar.
The boy also claimed that police convinced him to admit to an act he did not commit, which was cutting Nazrin’s old Hard Rock (Cafe) T-shirt.
He said this happened while he was being held in remand from Sept 5 to Sept 12, last year.
Defence counsel Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah told the High Court that the teenager had lodged a police report over the matter at the Taman Tun Dr Ismail station on Sept 22 last year.
The now 14-year-old boy, had in his police report, claimed he was questioned by three to five policemen in a room and was told to cooperate and tell them things so that he will be released early.
Shafee, who read the boy’s police report before Judge Datuk Ab Karim Ab Rahman, said the boy was told that he will be given bail to go home if everything was okay.
Shafee read: “After being released from remand, I realised the police were lying to me. I never knew that police are allowed to lie to children.
“The police lied when saying bad things about my mother such as she knew how to play archery since secondary school, that she went out at 6am in the morning to buy petrol, that my own mother did not care about me at all and many more things including the 2015 burglary at my previous home in Mutiara Damansara.
“Police also lied to me and convinced me to admit that I cut my stepfather’s old Hard Rock t-shirt, which I did not cut at all but was told that I have to admit as someone saw me.”
The boy also said he had been asking to meet with the police officer who promised him things but the latter did not respond and had changed and postponed the time to meet with lawyers.
“I was advised by my lawyers that I should make the correct changes to my statement and set the records right. The condition of the remand and the lies being told to me is very traumatic for me and I worry the police will use the statements that are not true,” read Shafee.
Meanwhile, a police witness, Inspector Anestassia Chin Fat of Petaling Jaya district police headquarters said she had no knowledge of the police report.
She said she did not know that the boy was alone, unaccompanied by an adult, when he was interrogated by a few policemen.
She said she recorded the boy’s statement on Sept 11 last year.
Questioned by lead deputy public prosecution officer Datuk Salim Soib @ Hamid, Anestassia said the boy did not complain when she recorded his statement.
Salim: How was he when you recorded his statement?
Anestassia: He was not under stress. He was casual.
Salim: You took down what he told you?
Anestassia: Yes. I asked him to read and he did and understood.
Salim: Did he complain about your Bahasa Melayu because you are from Sabah?
Anestassia: No.
Anestassia also told the court that it was not necessary for parents to accompany a child if she or he can give a consistent statement.
Samirah and her sons, aged 14 and 17, were charged with Nazrin’s murder in March this year. Also charged was the family’s Indonesian maid Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large.