Sosilawati's children want NRD to issue death cert

KUALA LUMPUR: The five children of cosmetic millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya, who was killed in 2010, have applied for leave for a judicial review to compel the National Registration Department (NRD) to issue a death certificate for their mother.
The children – Erwan Suwari Rizuwan Buhari, 28, Md Erwan Nasri, 27, Erni Erinawati Sofia, 25, Erni Rineelawati,24, and Siti Nur Fatimah, 17, – filed the application at the High Court here last Sept 24 through a legal firm, Messrs. Basharuddin Fa'izie Iskandar.
They named NRD as the respondent. The case came up for mention today before High Court Deputy Registrar Diana Md Razali, who set Nov 25 for hearing.
Counsel Mohd Iskandar Ismail, representing the children, told reporters that the case would be heard before Judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamad.
The children are seeking, among others, an order to dismiss the NRD's decision on July 25 not to issue a death certificate for Sosilawati, who was killed in a plantation in Banting, Selangor.
In a letter to NRD, the children stated that they needed the death certificate to enable them to distribute their mother's estate to the deceased's next of kin.
Erwan Suwari Rizuwan, in a supporting affidavit, claimed that NRD, in an oral explanation, said that a death certificate could not be issued for Sosilawati as no body had been found and as provided under Section 18 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957, if no body was found, the person would be assumed to be missing.
He stated that because of that NRD said Section 108 of the Evidence Act would be applicable where if a person could not be found or contacted after seven years could he/she be regarded as dead and a declaration of death could be made.
However, Erwan Suwari Rizuwan said there were special circumstances in her mother's case as the court could declare her dead based on the testimony and evidence brought up in her murder trial, even if her body was not found and the seven year period had not passed.
The NRD, in a letter dated July 25, 2014 to Sosilawati's family, stated that the registration of Sosilawati's death could only be considered after the disposal of the appeal case of the four accused in her murder by the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal here today set five days, beginning Feb 9 next year, to hear the appeals brought by a former lawyer and his employees who were convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of cosmetic millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and her three aides four years ago.
A three-member panel chaired by Datuk Aziah Ali also ordered the defence counsel and the prosecution to file their respective written submissions by Jan 26, next year.
Justice Aziah, who presided on the panel with Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim and Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, also fixed Nov 13 this year to hear N. Pathmanabhan's application to amend his petition of appeal.
She also instructed Pathmanabhan's counsel to file the application before Nov 6 this year. Earlier, the panel allowed the applications by T. Thilaiyalagan and R. Kathavarayan for extension of time to respectively filed their petition of appeal on or before Nov 30 this year.
On May 23, last year, Pathmanabhan, 44, and farmhands Thilaiyalagan, 22, R. Matan, 23, and Kathavarayan, 34, were found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of Sosilawati, 47, her driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 44, bank officer Noorhisham Mohamad, 38, and lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32.
They were found guilty by the High Court in Shah Alam of committing the offence at Lot 2001, Jalan Tanjong Layang, Tanjung Sepat, in Banting between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30, 2010.
In his judgment, High Court Judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir concluded that land matters figured as the key motive in the murder of Sosilawati for the reason of the inability of Pathmanabhan to honour the cheque issued to Sosilawati.
He said based on information given, the police discovered a burnt patch at the back of the farm and, on digging the burnt spot, the police unearthed bones, whereby some of the bones were later confirmed by the expert to be human bones that were charred, showing they had been burnt to a very high degree of temperature.
Akhtar also said further investigations at the farm revealed an area with the presence of blood spots and a cricket bat with traces of blood and an analysis of the blood by the chemist showed it matched that of some members of Sosilawati and company.
Lawyers Gurbachan Singh, Amer Hamzah Arshad and Amir Abdul Rani represented Thilaiyalagan, Matan and Kathavarayan, respectively.
Amer Hamzah also appeared on behalf of Pathmanabhan's lawyer, Manjeet Singh Dhillon, while deputy public prosecutor Idham Abdul Ghani appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama