Judicial commissioner Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh said a joint trial would be prejudicial to Chan Lay Lee, who is accused of murdering her Indonesian maid and causing grievous hurt to her Cambodian maid last year.
Ahmad Shahrir then transferred the lesser charge to the Sessions Court, with case management fixed on March 13.
He also fixed March 19 for case management for the murder charge, and a five-day trial from Nov 26 to 30.
Chan was initially charged in the Magistrate’s Court with murdering Zubaedah, 38, at her bungalow at 35 Lebuhraya Jelutong here between 11am and 4.45pm on Feb 26 last year.
She was charged in the Sessions Court with causing grievous hurt to a Cambodian woman, Anad, 23, at the same place between July 2016 and Feb 25 last year.
Earlier in today’s proceedings, deputy public prosecutor Lim Cheah Yit asked the court to decide whether a joint trial could be held for both charges.
He said while both cases involved the same accused, the victims were different and the offences occurred at different times.
V Sithambaram, who appeared for Chan, told the court he had written to the prosecution contending a joint trial would be highly prejudicial to the accused.
He asked for both cases to be tried separately.
Sukhinderpal Singh held a watching brief for Anad.