Lawyer Haresh Mahadevan brought to the attention of trial judge Syahliza Warnoh that they had written to a magistrate here in February to get the documents in preparation for their defence but were informed on Monday that the judicial officer’s superior had given instruction not to release the notes.

Haresh said the defence was shocked and disappointed over the turn of events.

“This is an apparent interference in the administration of justice,” he said, adding that the notes were public documents.

Haresh, who is assisted by Ramzani Idris, said the defence would be writing to the magistrate to identify the superior so that follow-up action could be taken.

He said the defence needed the notes to cross-examine investigating officer Hafizee Ismail and tender them as a defence exhibit.

Syahliza took note of the matter and allowed the applications by both the prosecution and defence to vacate the rest of the trial dates for this week to give them time to prepare their case.

The hearing was adjourned to April 21.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharudin applied for the case to be adjourned as they had some technical problems with the exhibits, including a pen drive.

Haresh also said the prosecution only provided Hafizee’s witness statement yesterday though the law stated it must be given at least 14 days before the witness was due to give evidence.

“The investigating officer is a crucial witness and we need time to go through the statement and the pen drive,” he said.

Earlier, prosecution witness Latifah Abdul Aziz, a senior audio and video analyst from Bukit Aman’s forensic laboratory, said she extracted footage from a closed-circuit television around the couple’s Damansara Damai apartment after their son went missing.

“The analysed frames could not positively identify the mother Ismanira Abdul Manaf and the victim as the video was blur,” she said.

Latifah, who is the prosecution’s 26th witness, said she also extracted a section of the video footage when Ismanira was doing grocery shopping at a convenience store before she picked up her son at his school around noon.

The witness said Ismanira was positively identified in the footage.

Ismanira and her husband, Zaim Ikhwan Zahari, both 30, were arrested on May 31 last year and held under remand for a maximum of 14 days.

The couple were produced before a magistrate on June 1 and June 7 for an extension of the remand order.

They pleaded not guilty on June 13 to neglecting Zayn Rayyan, a six-year-old autistic boy, in a manner likely to cause him physical harm.

The offence allegedly occurred at Damansara Damai between noon on Dec 5 and 9.55pm on Dec 6, 2023.

The charge was framed under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, punishable by a maximum fine of RM50,000, imprisonment of up to 20 years, or both, upon conviction.

Zayn Rayyan was reported missing on Dec 5, 2023 and his body was discovered in a stream near his home at Apartment Idaman, Damansara Damai, the following day.

He was believed to have been murdered, after an autopsy revealed injuries to his neck and body.