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Hearings in murder of IGMH nurse to begin Thursday

Marvin S. Y. Vargas, 30, (L) and Haleemath Lamha Abdul Rahman, 24. (R).

Criminal Courts is scheduled to begin hearing the case against husband and mistress in the murder of Grace Oned Pineda, a Filipino nurse who worked at Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), on Thursday. 

The first hearing in the case is scheduled for 10:00 am on Thursday. 

Mary was killed in her apartment on the first floor of Ma. Udhuheykokaage in Male’ City in the afternoon of October 19, 2021.  

Prosecutor General’s Office filed murder charges against Mary’s husband Marvin S. Y. Vargas, 30, and his mistress Haleemath Lamha Abdul Rahman, 24, with the Criminal Court on January 4. 

Marvin is accused of inflicting on Mary’s head and neck, and strangling her to death, while Lamha is accused of co-conspiring with Marvin to murder Mary, and assisting in and facilitating her murder. She is also accused of unauthorized possession of syringes.   

Marvin was charged with murder with intent under Section 110 (d) of the Penal Code, with reference to Section 110 (a).  

He faces minimum 10 years in prison if convicted of the charge.  

Lamha was pressed with three charges, including as an accomplice to murder with intent under Section 110 (d) and Section 30 (d) (2) of the Penal Code with reference to Section 110 (a) and Section 30 (a) (3).  

She faces minimum six years in prison if convicted of the charge.  

She was also charged on with knowingly taking unauthorized control over the property of another under Section 210 (b) (5) of the Penal Code with reference to Section 211 (a), after police found two syringes from IGMH which she had not been authorized to take out of the hospital hidden in an envelope in her bedroom.  

She faces minimum two months and 24 days in prison if convicted of the charge.  

She was also charged with carrying out an activity that requires permission from an authority, without obtaining permission from the relevant authority under Section 613 (c) (4) of the Penal Code with reference to Section 613 (b), after police found a type of drug issued only for the use of hospitals and health facilities during a search of her bedroom.  

She faces minimum two months and 12 days in prison if convicted of the charge.  

Lamha admitted to her affair with Marvin in an interview to Sun last year. She claimed they ended their relationship a day before Mary’s death, but got back together again.  

It had been Marvin who had taken Mary’s body to IGMH in an ambulance on October 19, 2021. He initially claimed her death was a suicide by hanging, and later changed his story and said she had suddenly collapsed.  

Police found the death suspicious and opened an investigation into the case.   

Police arrested Marvin on October 27, 2021 and Lamha on December 16, 2021.  

Both Marvin and Lamha had also worked as nurses at IGMH. 

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