Nurasyura, better known as Nonoi, had gone missing on 1 March 2006, and a highly publicized search ensued; three days later her stepfather, Mohammed Ali bin Johari, confessed to what he claimed was an accidental death, and he led police to her body.

On 31 August 2007, after an 8-day hearing, the High Court found Mohammed Ali, who repeatedly denied raping Nonoi, guilty of murder and sentenced him to death.

On the Wednesday evening of 1 March 2006, at a ground floor, 3-room unit at Block 62, Circuit Road, two-year-old Nurasyura binte Mohamed Fauzi, affectionately known as "Nonoi", went missing.

[1][2][3] Her step-grandfather, 59-year-old Johari bin Mohammed Yus, the owner of the Circuit Road flat, had last seen her at around 7 pm before he began his evening prayers; he was also the one who reported her missing.

As Mohammed Ali was brought away by police, several enraged neighbours and strangers shouted expletives at him, who had been putting up a charade by praying for his stepdaughter's safety and asking for help while taking part in the search.

[8] After he was charged, on 13 March 2007, Mohammed Ali was ordered to be remanded at Changi Prison Complex Medical Centre for psychiatric evaluation.

Mohammed Ali was reported to be a drug addict who abused marijuana and cough syrup and others; this habit continued until his arrest on 4 March 2006.

[4] On 26 January 2007, at a preliminary hearing of the case in the courts of Singapore, the judge presiding it decided that there is enough evidence to prosecute Mohammed Ali for murder.

Mohammed Ali, in his police statements prior to his trial (which he also said in his defence), maintained that he did not rape the girl and would never do it as he loved Nonoi like his own flesh and blood, and that he immersed the girl in water with the purpose of merely wanting to stop her from crying (he told the police and court that Nonoi, who was normally a cheerful child, for some reason, kept crying on the day itself and did not stop).

He even take precautions and stood by the bedroom door to not allow anyone disturb her and tell everyone to keep quiet; he was afraid, he said, to let anyone know that Nonoi died in his house.

"[25] After his evening prayers, at around 7.35 pm, Mr Johari, then 59 years old and a retiree, discovered her missing and thought that she wandered off, thus it began the three-day search for her.

[11][27] To a police investigative officer questioning him, Mohammed Ali said these words as reported in a news article dated 10 April 2007, "I hit her at legs.

To which, Mohammed Ali, who maintained a normal and calm demeanour throughout the trial, vehemently denied it and flared up when the prosecution repeatedly asked him about this.

Besides, the statements of Mastura and other family members stated they found no injuries on Nonoi when she took a bath; this led to establishments of hallmark signs leading to the possibility that the alleged sexual assault could have taken place sometime later that day, especially when Mohammed Ali was alone at home with his stepdaughter.

Mdm Mastura, who testified under oath at her husband's court hearing, said that she earlier discovered an injury on her daughter's arm while bathing her, Mohammed Ali responded to her that Nonoi accidentally touched his motorcycle's hot exhaust pipe and got burnt when she asked him about it.

Using a dummy and pail, he demonstrated live in court how he dunked his stepdaughter in the eyes of all present in the courtroom to hear the case (he claimed he did the immersions in less than a second).

Not only did Dr Sathyadevan tell the court that Mohammed Ali told him essentially the same account of the case as what he told the police investigators, his psychiatric report painted a dark picture of Mohammed Ali; he was still abusing drugs two days before Nonoi died, having difficulty holding a job, his quick temper and a below-average low IQ of 89.

[33] In light of the autopsy report and court testimony by Dr Gilbert Lau regarding the other two alternative causes of death, the prosecution was granted permission to call for two medical witnesses regarding this issue.

The court was told that in January 2004, when Nonoi was 8 months old, she was hospitalised at the National University Hospital (NUH), and was diagnosed to be suffering from gastroenteritis-provoked seizures by Dr Foo, who was one of the doctors in charge of her treatment.

Dr Foo stated that the secondary diagnosis of Nonoi's medical condition at that point in time had been status epilepticus (one of the alternative causes of death).

"[37] In his closing submissions however, DPP Christopher Ong, who led the prosecution, described Mohammed Ali as a "cool killer" who took "careful and elaborate steps to conceal his involvement" in his stepdaughter's death.

He said that Nonoi, a toddler who was not even three at the time of her death, was sexually assaulted by her stepfather who drowned her in a pail of water in her family home of the flat at Pipit Road.

DPP Ong described the situation, in his own words, "It is incredible that the accused (Mohammed Ali) would have been able to maintain this entire charade, were he truly in a state of panic and wracked with guilt over Nonoi's 'accidental' death.

The judge further noted this by mentioning the stepfather taking steps to avoid any suspicion regarding Nonoi's death and himself saying a lot of thoughts coming to his mind whether he should call the police.

The purpose of the judge's interruptions was seeking to ascertain the full facts and most of the instances alleged as examples of judicial interference were directed at the technical and forensic aspects of the case.

[42] On the morning of 19 December 2008, two years and nine months after the rape and murder of his stepdaughter Nonoi, 32-year-old Mohammed Ali bin Johari was hanged in Changi Prison.

Airyl's mother, Noraidah bte Mohd Yussof, had severely beaten him for not able to recite the numbers 11 to 18 in Malay, and this resulted in him landed into hospital, where he would die four days later despite undergoing an emergency surgery.

Noraidah was consequently found guilty of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and ill-treatment of her son and sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment by the High Court.

[60] In March 2012, at the second reading of the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, in a response to the calls by several Members of Parliament (MP) to abolish the mandatory death penalty, Law Minister of Singapore K. Shanmugam cited the Nonoi murder case along with a few other cases to show the impact of drug trafficking (which warranted a death sentence in Singapore) on the many families whose loved ones were ensnared by drug abuse (in which Mohammed Ali's marijuana addiction made him wanting to use Nonoi to avoid detection by the narcotics enforcement officers on the fateful day he killed her).

His words received support from some politicians like Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and MP Christopher de Souza.