Teenager jailed for murder of 23 individuals in tahfiz fire files appeal

The 19-year-old teenager who was ordered to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong after he was found guilty for the death of 23 people in a fire at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah has filed an appeal against the order.

His lawyer Haijan Omar when contacted said, a notice of appeal against the High Court ruling on Aug 17 was filed through e-filing, a day after the decision.

“We filed the appeal against the conviction and sentence,” he said.

Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah convicted the teenager on the charges after finding the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubts against the 23 murder charges faced by the juvenile and ruled that the youth had intentionally committed mischief to cause death.

The judge said, since the teenager was a juvenile (16 years old) when the offence was committed, he had applied Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001 to sentence him.

He said, it was up to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to determine the terms and conditions of the teenager’s detention.

On Jan 28, 2020, Justice Azman ordered the teenager to enter his defence on the charges after finding that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against him.

According to an amended charge, the teenager, together with another unidentified individual, was charged with murdering and causing the death of the 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 the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

However, Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001 states 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. - BERNAMA