GEORGE TOWN: A teenager who allegedly hurled her newborn baby out of her apartment in July and was later charged with murder has been ordered to be sent to prison while awaiting trial at the High Court.
Magistrate Jamaliah Abd Manap made the order today, saying M Santhiea’s bail has come to an end by the virtue of her case being transferred to the High Court.
Murder cases are tried at the High Court but charges are pressed at the Magistrate’s Court beforehand.
Santhiea’s lawyer, Meharaj Selvarajoo, argued that the spirit of the bail granted by the Court of Appeal was to allow his client bail to be set free until the case is mentioned at the High Court.
He said the case has yet to be registered at the High Court.
Meharaj said Santhiea, 18, who was in college when the offence was alleged to have happened, was not fit to go to prison as she was undergoing psychiatric treatment and orthopaedic treatment for her lower back at the Penang Hospital.
Also, given the Covid-19 outbreak in prisons, it would be untimely to send her into detention, he said, adding that she should remain under bail as she posed no flight risk.
Deputy public prosecutor Yazid Mustaqim Roslan said the law allows the court to revoke bail by arresting the accused and placing them under custody.
“Based on the decision of the appeals court, a conditional bail was given where the bail is to expire when it is transferred to the High Court. The case is now transferred to the High Court,” magistrate Jamaliah said.
Outside the court, Santhiea’s lawyers said she would be sent to a correctional facility in Perlis pending her High Court hearing, for which a date has not been set yet.
Santhiea was charged with causing the death of her newborn at Sri Ivory Apartment, Bandar Baru Air Itam, at 8.25am on July 10. The offence under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the death penalty.
She has been held in custody at the Penang Hospital since then for treatment related to injuries sustained during childbirth.
On Sept 14, the Court of Appeal granted her bail of RM30,000 given her medical complications, after her application for bail was turned down at two lower courts.
Bail is normally not granted in murder cases, but women and the infirm could be allowed bail under the law and based on earlier precedents by the Federal Court.