PETALING JAYA — The mother of Zayn Rayyan Abdul Matin told the Sessions Court today that a WhatsApp message saying “lantaklah nak hidup ke nak mati” (“don’t care whether to live or die”) was directed at herself — not her six-year-old son.
Ismanira Abdul Manaf, 30, said she sent the message to her husband, Zaim Ikhwan Zahari, in a moment of panic and emotional distress while searching for their missing child at the Idaman Apartment in Damansara Damai on December 5, 2023.
“The content of hashtag eight (referring to the WhatsApp conversation) was not aimed at my son. That day, I was anxious, frantic and desperate for my husband’s attention while searching for our missing child,” she said, responding to a supplementary question from her lawyer, Haresh Mahadevan, on the fourth day of her defence in the child neglect trial involving her late son.
“I sent those words asking him to come home quickly and help me. It was about me.”
Earlier, on April 7, prosecution witness ASP Mohd Zaidi Abu Hassan, a cybercrime analyst with the Royal Malaysia Police Forensic Lab, testified that several WhatsApp messages were retrieved from mobile phones seized during the investigation into Zayn Rayyan’s death.
These included an iPhone registered to Ismanira and a Huawei phone linked to a Google account in her husband’s name. One message, containing the phrase “lantaklah nak hidup ke nak mati”, was timestamped around noon on December 5, 2023.
Meanwhile, the defence’s fourth witness, Umi Syafiqah Rohizal, 30, told the court she had never seen Ismanira leave her two children — Zayn Rayyan and his younger brother — unsupervised at the playground or around their apartment complex.
Umi, who lived at Idaman Apartment from 2019 to 2024, said she frequently saw Ismanira holding both children’s hands while walking from Block R to the motorcycle parking area between Blocks R and S.
She also said she had never witnessed the couple mistreat, abuse or neglect their children.
Describing Ismanira as “gentle and loving,” Umi told the court they had been close friends since Standard Three in primary school.
“I’ve known her for more than 21 years. After school, I went on to study in Perak and later returned to live in Damansara Damai,” she said, adding that the two reconnected via social media in 2018 and that Ismanira had even been a bridesmaid at her wedding.
On Monday, Judge Syahliza Warnoh ordered Ismanira to enter her defence after ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against her. Her husband, however, was acquitted and discharged.
The couple had been jointly accused of neglecting their autistic son in a manner likely to cause physical injury between noon on December 5 and 9.55pm on December 6, 2023, around Block R of Idaman Apartment and the nearby river.
They were charged under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code. The offence carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to RM50,000, or both, upon conviction.
The trial is set to resume on 4 August. — July 24, 2025