Pastor charged in Malaysia with murdering his mother before storing ...

SINGAPORE: A 53-year-old part-time pastor who allegedly murdered his mother and stored her body in a freezer for over three years was charged in a Kuala Lumpur court on Tuesday (Nov 26).

Deanesh Narayanan Nair reportedly punched his 77-year-old mother Catherine Daniel to death. He then wrapped her body in a towel and plastic sheets before storing it in a freezer sometime between Mar 21 and Mar 26, 2021, according to media reports.

Deanesh was charged at the Magistrates Court in Kuala Lumpur under Section 302 of the Penal Code. Convicted offenders face the death penalty or 30 to 40 years’ imprisonment, as well as a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane. 

He arrived at the court in a wheelchair without a lawyer and said he understood the charge when it was read out to him before Magistrate Atiqah Mohamed.

No plea was recorded as the offence is under the High Court’s jurisdiction.

The Magistrates Court also denied him bail and scheduled Feb 7 next year for the case to be mentioned again. The post-mortem, medical and DNA matching reports are pending.

Daniel’s body was discovered on Nov 12 after her son called the police to surrender himself. He claimed to have depleted his savings and suffer from chronic health problems.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi Mohd Isa said earlier that Deanesh confessed to murdering his mother in 2021 “to send her to heaven” following a dispute over religious beliefs, reported The New Straits Times.

According to sources, Deanesh was standing next to the freezer when the police arrived at his home in Taman Overseas Union Garden in Kuala Lumpur. His mother’s body was sent to the University of Malaya Medical Centre for an autopsy.

Police said early findings from a post-mortem revealed she had suffered “chest injuries due to blunt trauma”.

Following Deanesh’s arrest, neighbours told media outlet Harian Metro that they had not seen the victim since the Movement Control Order, a series of national quarantine measures implemented by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

According to the neighbours, the victim had her own house but would visit her son as he lived alone and was unmarried. Deanesh rarely went out of the house and his door was usually closed, they added.

“He was always friendly with the neighbours. If I saw him outside, he would greet me and ask how I was doing,” one of the neighbours said, adding that Deanesh had also suffered a stroke. 

According to Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi on Monday, investigators have recorded 13 witness statements.