WELLINGTON: While New Zealanders celebrate Labour Day with a public holiday yesterday, Muhammad Rizalman Ismail, the former Malaysian military attaché to Wellington, will have to spend another day in remand at Rimutaka Prison here.
He is scheduled to appear today at the Wellington District Court where an application for bail on his behalf may be expected.
A series of interlocutary applications may follow in the days ahead before the trial date is set.
An interlocutary application is an application for directions or orders before a substantive hearing, usually in relation to the procedure of a case.
Under the New Zealand legal system, different interlocutary applications will be heard by different judges.
The Rimutaka Prison, located in Upper Hutt in the north of Wellington is one of New Zealand’s largest prisons.
Muhammad Rizalman was detained by New Zealand police on May 9 and was brought to court the following day to face charges of house break-in and sexual assault with intention to rape a 21-year-old woman.
He and his family were flown back to Malaysia on May 22, and the Malaysian Defence Ministry immediately launched an investigation into the case.
He reportedly underwent a psychiatric evaluation at the Tuanku Mizan Military Hospital upon his return and was discharged at the end of July. — Bernama