KUALA LUMPUR: Rumah Bonda founder Siti Bainun Ahd Razali (pic) has been found guilty by the Sessions Court of two counts of neglect and abuse involving a Down Syndrome teenager known as Bella.
Sessions Court judge Izralizam Sanusi said not only the accused's defence was unbelievable and that the court was unable to accept it, Siti Bainun had also failed to raise any reasonable doubt in the case.
"Therefore I find the accused guilty of the first and second charge," he said here on Wednesday (May 3).
Proceedings are currently ongoing with both sides giving submissions on sentencing.
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A total of 22 prosecution witnesses testified in the trial at the prosecution stage which started on March 30, 2022, including a former resident of Rumah Bonda Yasmin Nahar Mahmood; psychiatrist Dr Wan Asyikin Wan Azlan, assistant manager of a private company Zurianty Sudin and plastic surgeon Dr Salmi Mohamed Shukur.
On Nov 24, the court ordered Siti Bainun to enter her defence on two charges of neglecting and abusing a 13-year-old girl with Down syndrome, after finding that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against Siti Bainun at the end of the prosecution case.
Siti Bainun was accused of committing the offence at a condominium unit in Wangsa Maju between February and June 2021.
The charges are framed under Section 31(1)(a) of the Children's Act 2001 which carries a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment or a fine of RM50,000 or both if convicted.
The prosecution was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutors Nor Azizah Mohamad, Zilfinaz Abbas, Zahida Zakaria, Fazeedah Faik and Shakira Aliana Alias while lawyers Datuk Khairul Anwar Rahmat, Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu, Datuk Ikbal Salam and Mohd Radzi Yatiman were appointed by the Tengku Mahkota of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim to keep a watching brief in the case.
More to come
