The Federal Court today upheld a High Court decision to acquit Shah Alam City Council engineer Hanif Basree Abdul Rahman on a charge of murdering business development executive Noritta Samsuddin.

The five man-bench comprising Justices Arifin Zakaria, Nik Hashim Ab Rahman, Hashim Yusoff, Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin and Zaki Azmi unanimously rejected the prosecution's appeal to set aside the High Court's decision to free Hanif.

Zaki, who delivered the judgment, said that the High Court and Court of Appeal had correctly examined the evidence adduced and applied the correct principles in coming to their findings.

hanif basree abdul rahman "The prosecution has not discharged its burden in this case. The trial judge was right in deciding not to call Hanif ( photo ) to make his defence and subsequently discharging and acquiting him," Zaki said.

On Jan 29, 2005, the Court of Appeal dismissed the prosecution's appeal to set aside the High Court's decision on July 2004 acquitting Hanif without calling for his defence.

Hanif, 39, was accused of killing Noritta, 22, at No D-7-1, Puncak Prima Galleria Condominium in Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, between 1.30am and 4am on Dec 5, 2003.

The whole panel was present except for Justice Arifin who had some business to attend to.

Mystery man with body odour

Noritta’s murder as well as the trial created a stir for the stunning revelations of the victim’s lifestyle.

noritta samsuddin Noritta was found naked in her rented Kuala Lumpur apartment, with hands and feet bound by a black bra strap and iron wires. Bolster cases, towels and semen-stained tissues were strewn around.

In addition to her day job at an engineering company, she was reportedly working as a guest relation officer.

In the course of the trial, based from the semen found on her body, it was determined that two men had sex with her that night.

Trial judge Abdull Hamid Embong said that there was not enough evidence against Hanif. In the trial, the judge ruled that both security guards at Noritta's posh condominium gave conflicting testimonies.

The police also failed to track down two mystery men who were said to have visited her that night.

One was an unidentified man whose DNA profile was found on Noritta's vaginal and anal swabs. The other was a man with strong body odour, whom her housemate saw fleeing from the apartment before finding the corpse.