Tahfiz fire case: Appelatte Court upholds youth's jail sentence

PUTRAJAYA - The Court of Appeal today upheld the prison sentence on a youth who was ordered to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong after he was convicted of killing 23 people in a fire incident at the Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah in 2017.

The youth’s appeal was unanimously dismissed by a three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Abu Bakar Jais, Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Datuk See Mun Chun, after concluding that the High Court's conviction of the teenager should be upheld.

Meanwhile, the same panel also rejected the prosecution’s appeal against the High Court’s decision to acquit and discharge another teenager of the murder, 22, without calling for his defence.

Justice Che Mohd Ruzima, who read out the court's decision, said the court agreed with the findings of the High Court judge, who had ruled that the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution was strong and pointed to one direction, namely that the youth, along with another unidentified person, climbed behind the school's fence to start a fire in the school which killed 23 people.

She said there was no reason for them to question the High Court’s decision.

The youth, who is now 22 years old, is appealing against the High Court ruling on Aug 17, 2020, ordering him to be detained at the pleasure of the Agong after finding him guilty of the murder.

He was 16 years old at the time of the incident.

According to the charge, the youth, together with another person still at large, was accused of murdering and causing the death of 23 people in 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. - BERNAMA