3 other Rumah Bonda residents saw Siti Bainun abusing Bella, witness tells court

A close friend of Rumah Bonda founder Siti Bainun Ahd Razali told the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court yesterday that three residents of the welfare home saw her abusing the teenage girl with Down syndrome known as Bella at a condominium unit last year.

Zurianty Sudin, 39, said the three – Eyna, Aida and Balqis – were living with Siti Bainun and Bella when the incident happened.

The first prosecution witness, who was called back to testify, said this during cross-examination by lawyer Mohammad Farhan Maaruf, representing Siti Bainun at her trial for the neglect and abuse of the 13-year-old girl.

Farhan: Apart from Yasmin, (Yasmin Nahar Mahmood) to your knowledge, do you agree no one ever saw Siti Bainun abusing Bella?

Zurianty: I don’t agree.
 
Farhan: Which means, you are aware that other individuals apart from Yasmin witnessed Siti Bainun abusing Bella.

Zurianty: Yes.

Yasmin earlier testified that she had seen Siti Bainun abusing Bella every day from March 2021 until June 24, 2021.

Replying to a question from Siti Bainun's lawyer, Nurul Hafidzah Hassan, the witness, said she knew an activist named Mona Din and had communicated with the woman for the first time on Facebook.

Zurianty said she was surprised when the video of Bella's injury went viral after the activist shared it on Facebook as she had never given the video to Mona Din and was not in support of making the case viral on social media.

However, Zurianty admitted that she had uploaded a post on Bella's case on her Facebook.

Siti Bainun, 30, faces two charges of neglecting and abusing the girl, to the extent that she suffered physical and emotional injuries, between February and June 2021 at a condominium unit in Wangsa Maju.

The trial before judge Izralizam Sanusi continues today.