PG: Mary’s death reported one minute after Lamha left the apartment

The prosecution has stated that the death of Mary Grace Oned Pineda, a Flipino nurse at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), was reported just a minute after local nurse, suspect in the case Haleemath Lamha Abdul Rahman had left Mary’s apartment.

Mary’s husband, Marvin S. Y. Vargas, and his lover, Lamha, has been charged in connection to Mary’s death. Whilst Marvin is charged with murder with intent – Lamha is charged with being an accomplice to murder with intent.

Lamha is also charged with two additional crimes; knowingly taking unauthorized control over the property of another after the 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 and carrying out an activity that requires permission from an authority, without obtaining permission from the relevant authority after police found a type of drug issued only for the use of hospitals and health facilities during a search of her bedroom. 

Lamha’s trial commenced today, during which the prosecution noted that they still have a large amount of evidence to submit, including mobile forensic evidence.

During today’s hearing, the prosecution described Mary’s death as premeditated murder. They also presented evidence to back up the accusation.

In this regard, the state prosecutor highlighted that phone conversations between Marvin and Lamha after October 10, 2021, show that they talked about injecting a woman.

The state prosecutor also highlighted that on the day of Mary’s death, Marvin had googled pictures of how to murder someone by strangulation on his mobile phone at 10:20am.

“About three to four minutes after this google search, Marvin had taken Olivia (Marvin and Mary’s daughter) to Lamha,” the state prosecutor added.

Explaining the timeline of events, the state prosecutor said that Mary had gone to her break from work at 12:02pm – whereas at 12:30pm Lamha had gone over to Mary and Marvin’s apartment with Olivia.

As Lamha has denied going inside the apartment that day, the state prosecutor said that they will submitting video footage to prove otherwise.

“Lamha entered the apartment at 12:30pm with Olivia – and she left the apartment about 20 minutes after, at 12:49pm. Marvin called the ambulance stating that Mary had died, a minute after Lamha left the apartment,” the state prosecutor detailed.

Therefore, the state prosecutor stressed that it is impossible to rule out that Lamha did not have a hand in Mary’s murder.

Lamha and Marvin’s trials are proceeding separately – with Marvin’s trial also commencing today. At Marvin’s hearing, his remand was extended by additional 30 days – despite the trial being cut short due to being unable to reach his lawyer.

The death of Mary on October 19 was initially reported by Marvin as a case of suicide by hanging.

Her dead body was taken to the hospital by her husband, Marvin, moments after she had gone home for break whilst on duty.

According to a credible source, Marvin initially told the hospital staff that his wife committed suicide by hanging herself, and then later changed his story and said that she suddenly collapsed.    

The police found the death suspicious, and opened an investigation into the case. 

Marvin was arrested in connection to death on October 27.

After conducting an autopsy on Mary’s body, the Police announced that they do not believe Mary died of suicide by hanging, and that the postmortem examination revealed the cause of death to be blunt injuries. 

Lamha was arrested under a court order on December 16.

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 decided to resume their relationship following Mary’s death.