Tahfiz fire murder case: March 9 set for teenager's appeal hearing

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has set March 9 next year to hear an appeal of a teenager, currently being detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong after being found guilty for the death of 23 people in a fire at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah five years ago.

His lawyer, Haijan Omar, said the prosecution's appeal against the High Court's decision to acquit and discharge another teenager charged with committing the same offence, will also be heard on the same date (March 9).

"The court also fixed Feb 23 next year for case management," said the lawyer when contacted, today.

The teenager, who is now 21 years old, is appealing against the High Court verdict on Aug 17, 2020, ordering him to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong after finding him guilty of the murder.

At the same time, the prosecution is appealing against the High Court's decision to acquit and discharge another teenager of the murder without calling for his defence.

High Court judge Datuk Azman Abdullah found that the first teenager, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, had intentionally committed mischief to cause death.

According to the charge, the teenager, together with another unidentified individual, was accused of murdering and causing the death of 23 people staying at the tahfiz centre at Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat, Wangsa Maju here, between 4.15 am and 6.45 am on Sept 14, 2017.

He was charged with 23 counts of murder, each framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

However, Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001 stipulates that a death sentence shall not be pronounced or recorded against a person convicted of an offence if the child is under the age of 18, and in lieu of the death sentence, as provided under Section 97 (2) of the same law, the court shall order the person to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

A total of 71 witnesses testified for the prosecution while six defence witnesses including the teenager were called to stand in the trial which started on May 30, 2018.

The teenager, in his defence, denied that he was in the tahfiz compound at any time during the incident.

In the tragedy, 21 students and two teachers were killed as they were trapped on the third floor of the religious residential school hostel.

-- BERNAMA