A hearing in connection to the murder of a Philippines national employed as a nurse at Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), has been held at the Criminal Court.

Charged in connection to the murder case are Filipino Marvin S. Y. Vargas and a local woman, Haleemath Lamha.

At the beginning of Thursday’s hearing, the court proceeded with the charges against the murdered nurse; Mary Grace’s spouse.

Marvin was charged with deliberate murder on January 4. He faces accusations of injuring Mary’s head and neck and strangling her to death in her apartment in the capital city, on 19 October 2021.

During the hearing Marvin stated that he wishes to proceed with legal representation. As such, although he has appointed legal representation, he had failed to bring it to the court’s attention. State prosecutors had also requested to proceed with the hearings in the presence of an attorney.

The online hearing was temporarily halted to contact Marvin’s attorney; however, he did not respond to the phone call.

The hearing also saw state prosecutors requesting the court to extend Marvin’s remand as it expires on Thursday.

With this, Marvin’s remand has been extended by an additional 30 days, with the judge noting that the remand decision will be reviewed when the suspect’s attorney is present.

Presiding over the trial is Judge Hussain Faiz Rashaad, who noted that an additional hearing will be held in the presence of Marvin’s attorney. He also noted that Marvin’s request to be transferred to a prison facility from Dhoonidhoo custodial remand, in the next hearing.

Marvin faces a 10-year prison sentence if he is proven guilty of the charges raised against him.

Marvin’s lover, Lamha also faces charges for conspiring with Marvin to carry out the murder and assisting in facilitating it.

Lamha faces six years in prison if she is found guilty.

She also faces additional charges for deliberately taking unauthorized control over the property of another person after the police found two injections from IGMH that she did not have authority to take out of the hospital. The two needles were found hidden inside her bedroom. She is also charged with carrying out an activity that requires permission from authorities, without obtaining permission after police found a drug issued only for the use of hospitals, while searching her bedroom.

If convicted, Lamha will be jailed for four months and 24 days.

The two trials of Marvin and Lamha, are being held separately.

Maldives Police Service (MPS) confirmed the arrest of Lamha under a court order, on 16 December 2021.

Mary Grace was employed as a worker at the Dialysis Center of IGMH. The Filipino nurse’s suspicious death was reported on 19 October 2021. After bringing her body to the hospital, her spouse initially claimed that she committed suicide by hanging. However, he is to have later changed the story.

The police arrested her spouse, 29 years of age and also employed as a nurse in IGMH, under suspicions of murder as there were no signs of suicide by hanging, on the victim’s body. Her spouse was arrested on 27 October 2021.

The murdered nurse’s body was sent to India for an autopsy and returned to her family in Philippines afterwards, on 7 November 2021.

Citing the autopsy report, the police institution revealed that her death is not believed to have been by hanging. The autopsy report indicated that she died from a “blunt trauma”, which refers to an injury of the body by forceful impacts, falls or a physical attack on the body.

Sources report that Marvin; the victim’s spouse and Lamha were having an affair. The latter is also a nurse employed at IGMH.

The police institution forwarded the case for prosecution on 19 December 2021.