Baby’s Mum Takes Stand As Witness
The mother of 11-month-old miracle baby Samaira took stand and told the court how she desperately looked for her family when they stopped responding to her on August 25, 2019. Sangeeta Devi, 36, took the stand as prosecution’s 25th witness in the trial of Muhammed Raheesh Isoof, 63.
Isoof is accused of murdering Nirmal Kumar, 63, his wife Usha Devi, 54, their daughter Nileshni Kajal, 34, and Ms Kajal’s daughters Sanah Singh, 11, Samarah Singh, 8, and the attempted murder of Samaira Kumar.
In court yesterday, Ms Devi testified that she was in constant contact with her mother and sister on a daily basis as she lived in Sydney, Australia while her family and daughter were in Fiji.
She said her daughter Samaira was to turn a year old on August 31, 2019, and the family had planned for a birthday party along with Samarah’s ninth birthday and a pooja on Tuesday August 27, 2019.
She told the court that she knew
Isoof (herein referred to as Kamal) since childhood as he was their neighbour in Legalega, Nadi.
She said the last conversation she had with her mother was on Saturday August 24, 2019, when her mother informed her that on Sunday they (the family) would be going to the mountains in Sabeto with Kamal for a pooja and return home by midday.
Ms Devi told the court that her mother said they were travelling to the mountains in Kamal’s vehicle and Kamal was taking them.
As per the witness, her mother took her jewellery to a shop to weigh as asked by Kamal.
Ms Devi testified that her mother told her that Kamal was going to write the weight of the jewellery on a paper and after counting, he would take out that number of cloves. She also recalled that the last time she spoke to her elder sister Kajal was on the day her family went missing.
Court told of attempted calls
She said on August 25, 2019, at around 7.15am Australian time, she called her sister and was speaking to her. She said Kajal mentioned that they were getting ready and dressing Samaira as they had to go somewhere with Kamal.
Ms Devi said at around 10.19am, Kajal messaged her on Viber and said talk later.
She said after that, she tried to call everyone in her family after midday but they did not respond to her calls.
Ms Devi testified that on August 26, 2019, she called her dad, mum and sister again, but no one answered her calls.
She said she then sent messages to Sela, who was Kamal’s tenant to check if everyone was home, however, she was at the doctor’s, so Ms Devi called her sister Rangeeta.
Ms Devi said her sister was at work so she called Sela again who then video called her from her parent’s house where she saw her aunt and grandmother sitting outside.
She said she spoke to her grandmother and asked her to speak to Kamal’s mother-in-law to get his number and ask him where her parents were since they went with him. She then said that she spoke to Kamal at around 1.30pm from
Sela’s phone and asked for her parents to which Kamal told her that they did not go with him.
Ms Devi told the court that Kamal’s behaviour was as if he was in shock and she told him that she had been calling them but no one responded to her calls.
She said Kamal told her not to worry and later, Kamal informed her that there were four bodies found and a baby, but asked her not to lose hope as it may not be them referring to her family.
She told the court that while speaking to Kamal on Viber, Police officers arrived and he gave the phone to an officer whom she asked how many bodies were found and asked the ethnicity of the baby.
She said the officer said it was an Indo-Fijian baby girl and five bodies were found.
She further stated that the officer informed her that the baby was taken to Nadi Hospital for examination, however, could not confirm whether it was her family whose bodies were found.
Court told of photos sent to Police Ms Devi testified that she sent photos of her family members to the officer; however, they did not tell her anything after.
She then called her sister again and told her of what was happening in Legalegla and asked her to go find out more.
She also mentioned to the court that she called her brother-in-law Rohit Chand and asked him to check on the baby if she was okay.
She said her sister and brotherin-law had identified the bodies of their family.
She further told the court that her father, Nirmal, was the best dad because he always supported them all the way and took care of them.
Ms Devi’s cross-examination by the defence lawyer will be done today. Apart from Ms Devi, other witnesses, namely Sela Tokalau who is Isoof ’s tenant, neighbour Parveen Singh, and ASP Harish Prasad who conducted the identification parade at the Namaka Police Station, and Shalendra Reddy also a neighbour from the same village took the stand yesterday.