Friends of Marvin S. Y. Vargas, who is charged in the murder case of Filipino nurse Mary Grace who worked at IGMH, have refused to testify in his defense. Despite being given two opportunities to appear in court as defense witnesses submitted by Marvin, his friends failed to appear, so the Criminal Court has now decided to proceed with the case trial without their testimony.

Marvin is charged with the crime of intentional murder in this case. According to the state’s allegations, Marvin was assisted in murdering Mary by a Maldivian nurse named Haleemath Lamha, with whom he was in a romantic relationship. Lamha is charged with participating in Mary’s murder, and the trial for this case has been proceeding for many days with both Marvin and Lamha held in detention. Due to the non-appearance of defense witnesses, the case will now proceed based on other available evidence.