IGMH nurse’s murder: Lamha jailed pending outcome of trial

Haleemath Lamha Abdul Rahman, 24, who has been charged as an accomplice in the murder of IGMH nurse Mary Grace Oned Pineda - with whose husband she had been having an affair with – has been remanded in jailed pending the outcome of the trial.

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

Her husband, Marvin S. Y. Vargas, 30, who has been charged with murder with intent, was remanded in jail pending the outcome of the trial last week.

Lamha, in addition to being charged as an accomplice to murder with intent, has also been charged for unauthorized possession of injections

During the virtual hearing at Criminal Court on Monday, the defense asked for a closed hearing to be held to decide Lamha’s remand, citing room for exposure of her personal information.

“We, as lawyers, ask this because there’s great need for it. We are not talking about something of no consequence,” said Yameen Ahmed, Lamha’s defense attorney.

However, the prosecution objected to holding a closed hearing, arguing that there was no legal basis to hold a closed hearing.

The prosecution asked for Lamha to be jailed pending the outcome of trial.

Judge Hussain Faiz Rashad sided with the prosecution.

The defense said they requested a closed hearing to talk about Lamha’s health condition. They did not speak about it after the judge decided on an open hearing.

The judge granted the prosecution’s motion to have Lamha jailed pending the outcome of her trial.

In addition to being charged as an accomplice to Mary’s murder, Lamha was also charged with knowingly taking unauthorized control over the property of another, and carrying out an activity that requires permission from an authority, without obtaining permission from the relevant authority under

She was pressed with the latter two charges after police found two injections from IGMH which she had not been authorized to take out of the hospital hidden in an envelope in her bedroom, as well a type of drug issued only for the use of hospitals and medical facilities.

Prosecution told the court on Monday that traces of a powerful injection found in Lamha’s apartment was detected in Mary’s blood.

Lamha faces over six years in prison if convicted of the charges.

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.

She also spoke about the injections and medicine found in her bedroom. Lamha said that one of the injections had been prescribed by a doctor because she had trouble sleeping during the COVID-19 lockdown. She also claimed that the medicine, too, was prescribed by a doctor.

It had been Marvin who had taken Mary’s body to IGMH in an ambulance on October 19. He initially claimed her death as 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.