KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today fixed April 24 to deliver its decision on the appeal of Rumah Bonda founder Siti Bainun Ahd Razali against two convictions of abusing and neglecting her adopted daughter named Bella, who has Down syndrome.
Judge Datuk Noorin Badaruddin said she will deliver her broad grounds of judgment on that day after hearing oral submissions from the prosecution and defence for over two hours today.
Earlier, Siti Bainun's counsel, Haijan Omar, in his submissions, said the Sessions Court judge had been misdirected when he convicted his client on the two charges in May last year.
He said no new plea was taken from his client after the second charge, for neglecting Bella, or was amended, and she was unrepresented at that time which led to her rights being prejudiced.
"She had asked for the proceedings to be adjourned because she was unrepresented.
"But it was denied and she was asked to enter her defence and read her witness statement, where parts of it were expunged by the respondent (prosecution).
"The amendment to the charge had been made, but it was not reread to her. Furthermore, she was not asked to enter her plea on it. I believe this is compulsory, but it was not done by the Sessions Court judge," he said.
Haijan submitted that there was injustice because two teenagers living at Rumah Bonda, who were witnesses to the alleged incident, were not called as witnesses during the trial.
He said this as the two teenagers had given clashing statements about Bella's sufferings during investigations.
Deputy public prosecutor Analia Kamaruddin said the two teenagers, aged 14 and 16, were not called as they were children and the statements taken during the probe at the crime scene were sufficient.
Judge Noorin said all must not be swayed by the evidence of four experts, who examined Bella, that conclusively found she was abused and the injuries were non-accidental and non-self inflicted.
She said there were injuries sustained for a span of time and not one or two days.
"Witnesses can say anything but there was medical evidence which had already been established by specialist doctors that say as such," she said.
Datuk Ikbal Salam is holding a watching brief on behalf of Regent of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
On May 3 last year, Siti Bainun, 31, was found guilty of abusing and neglecting Bella.
Judge Izralizam Sanusi said Siti Bainun was guilty of neglecting and abusing teenager Bella to a point that she suffered physical and emotional damage.
He found Bella suffering from emotional damage after having shown symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after she was put under Siti Bainun's care.
He also rejected Siti Bainun's testimony, given at the defence stage, where she claimed that Bella's physical injuries were due to spilled hot water. He found her statement to be hearsay as she was not at home when the incident occurred.
Additionally, he said that Siti Bainun fabricated false stories about the incident involving spilled hot water, as he deduced from the accused's testimonies that the incident never occurred.