Deputy public prosecutor Nor Azizah Mohamad told the High Court that Siti Bainun had failed to show the special circumstances that warranted the granting of a stay of execution.

“She claimed that her health deteriorated after she started her prison sentence. However, the prison’s medical officer affirmed in an affidavit that her health condition was not serious.

“The doctor had even offered to refer her to a specialist but she had rejected the offer. There is no issue of her not receiving adequate medical treatment in prison,” Azizah told the High Court.

Therefore, she added, Siti Bainun’s bail application ought to be rejected.

On May 3, Siti Bainun was found guilty by the sessions court of neglecting and abusing a Down Syndrome teenager known as Bella.

The court sentenced her to a total of 12 years in prison. She filed an appeal the same day.

Siti Bainun was ordered to serve her jail term after the court denied her bail application pending the appeal.

She has been in Kajang prison since May 5.

Her lawyer, Ahmad Faiz Munawar, told the court today that Siti Bainun’s health had worsened after she started her jail sentence.

He said she complained that her blood pressure had gone up and that “sleeping on the cement floor” in prison had caused her situation to worsen.

Faiz pointed out that bail had been granted to individuals such as former prime minister Najib Razak in the SRC International corruption case and clerk Sam Ke Ting in the “basikal lajak” accident case.

However, Justice Ahmad Bache told the lawyer that the cases involving Najib and Sam must be distinguished from Siti Bainun’s case.

“The case before this court involves some form of abuse,” he added.

Ahmad said he would make his ruling on May 23 as he needed to go through the submissions of the prosecution and defence.