Lamha asks to be released home with ankle monitor

Haleemath Lamha Abdul Rahman – on trial for the murder of Filipino nurse Mary Grace Oned Pineda – asked the Criminal Court on Tuesday to grant her conditional release after fitting her with an ankle bracelet monitor.

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 is charged with murder with intent, while Lamha – his mistress - is charged as an accomplice to murder and for unauthorized possession of controlled medical substances.

All three had worked as nurses at IGMH’s ER.

Lamha and Marvin have been jailed pending the outcome of their trial.

At a Criminal Court hearing on Tuesday, Lamha’s lawyer said his client had medical issue, and was receiving treatment in jail.

He said that Lamha can be released from jail after minimizing the risks to society. He asked the court to release her with an ankle monitor.

However, the prosecution said that the circumstances that prompted Lamha and Marvin’s confinement remains unchanged, and that there was no legal basis to release her from jail after fitting her with an ankle monitor.

The judge said he would announce his decision at the next hearing.

Marvin did not ask to be released home.

Marvin had taken Mary’s body to IGMH in an ambulance mere minutes after she had gone to home for her break from work. 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.

Marvin was arrested on October 27, 2021. And Lamha was arrested on December 16, 2021.

An autopsy on Mary showed she died from injuries to her neck and head. Examiners also found traces succinylcholine - a medication used to cause short-term paralysis as part of general anesthesia - in her blood.

Investigators found a used succinylcholine injection, along with two other restricted injections from Lamha’s apartment.

Marvin faces a life sentence if found guilty, while Lamha faces at least six years in prison.