KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Bernama) — An Al-Arqam follower who is charged with murdering a couple admitted in the High Court here today that he had hit the victims with a piece of wood, crash helmet and mop handle to exorcise them.
The accused Muhammad Ilyas Abdul Razak, said he, however, had no intention of causing death to the couple as they were his uncle and aunt, and was unaware that his action during the exorcism would cause their deaths.
Muhammad Ilyas, the first accused in the case, said this from a written statement when making his defence against the charge of murdering Mohd Ibrahim Kader Mydin, 48, and Rosina SM Mydin Pillay, 42, at house No 5-7C, Block A, Seri Sarawak Flats, Jalan Kenanga, here at noon and 8pm on Oct 1, 2008.
He is charged with committing the offence with his younger brother Muhammad Fauzi Abdul Razak, 22, and the couple’s son Muhammad Nizam Muhammad Ibrahim, 21, under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the death sentence upon conviction.
“I had hit my uncle with a helmet and a piece of wood from a broken table. He did not protest, cry or say that he was in pain.
“I also asked my aunt to sit on the floor and hit her with a mop handle, the helmet and a detached table until she bled,” Muhammad Ilyas said from the dock.
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Earlier it was reported that the ritual was meant to help the man stop smoking, and the woman to overcome a liver ailment.
Muhammad Ilyas Abdul Razak, the first accused in the case of a “cleansing ritual” gone awry, told the High Court here that he bashed his uncle and aunt to death with a helmet and piece of wood to cleanse them of the evil spirits (jin) that he could see in them.
[…]“I could see that there were many evil spirits in my house and in the bodies of all my family members which I needed to remove.
“If I didn’t do it, they would have harmed us,” said Muhammad Ilyas, 25, who chose to give his defence statement from the dock yesterday.
[…]About two weeks before the incident on Oct 1 last year, Muhammad Ilyas said he saw his grandmother’s spirit telling him to be loyal to the teachings of Al-Arqam leader Abuya Ashaari Muhamad.
“After that, I could deliver lectures on Islam, and during those lectures, methods of healing came to me from Abuya.
“Everyone in my family believed that I had the gift from God and could see evil spirits and demons. No one objected to or questioned my orders,” he said, adding that he did not force anyone to undergo his cleansing rituals and that his family members had acted voluntarily.
[…]The sole defence witness, Hospital Bahagia’s forensic psychiatric consultant specialist Dr Rabaiah Mohd Salleh, told the court she had diagnosed Muhammad Ilyas as suffering from bipolar mood disorder when he was warded at the hospital for two months after the incident.
“During the incident, he was mentally unsound and was not aware of the consequences of his actions. He was acting on the delusion that he really could raise the dead,” she said. Hearing before judicial commissioner Azman Abdullah continues on Jan 15.
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