KUALA LUMPUR: A woman denied the statement made in court by singer Noh Salleh about his adopted son Musa yesterday.
Athira, the biological mother to Musa, said she had never permitted Noh to take Musa when the child was already under the care of his adoptive mother, Mizz Nina.
Noh and Mizz Nina were once married to each other and had adopted Musa.
Athira said: "All his (Noh) statements are not true and I was manipulated by him.
"When he asked me to sign the statutory declaration (SD), he said that at least when Nina was overseas, he could take care of Musa.
"I thought Nina was busy with work, so I allowed him to take care of Musa for the time being.
"That's why I signed the SD (statutory declaration). I signed the SD in front of his employees and no one else. Not even in the presence of a commissioner of oaths.
"I didn't know whether it was valid or not at that time.
"Then I was told that I should have signed the SD in front of a commissioner of oaths. So the SD was invalid," she said in a Harian Metro report today.
Athira added that she did not know of Noh's plan to take Musa away when Mizz Nina was not in the country on Dec 19 last year.
"When I heard his statements to the media yesterday and the day before, I was surprised because what he said was wrong.
"It started getting weird when he told me to block Nina's phone number. So my intention here is just to tell the truth after seeing what has happened."
Athira said she had entrusted Musa's custody to Mizz Nina from the beginning.
"From the start, I had signed the surrender letter in front of the commissioner of oaths. Nina is Musa's legal guardian."
Mizz Nina and Noh were at the Shah Alam Syariah High Court on Monday and Tuesday for what was supposed to be the proceeding for a sulh session.
However, the session didn't take place after Mizz Nina withdrew her application for the full custodianship of her adopted son.
Musa's biological mother wants to be known only as Athira, but she's a different person from Noh's current wife, Fatin Athirah Mustapa.