Lawyers seek postponement of prosecution against five teens in Zara Qairina case
The lawyers requested for the AG to consider charging all the teenagers under Section 507D(2) of the Penal Code.
KOTA KINABALU – The legal team representing Noraidah Lamat, mother of the late Zara Qairina Mahathir, has requested for Wednesday’s scheduled prosecution to be postponed to allow reconsideration of charging five teenagers under Section 507D(2) of the Penal Code.
In a joint statement, the lawyers said they were just informed that the teenagers would be charged under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code for bullying 13-year-old Zara.
"After we issued a statement, yesterday, we only learned that the five teenagers would be charged under Section 507C(1).
"We therefore request for the Attorney-General (AG) to postpone charging the teenagers. We also request the AG to consider charging all the teenagers under Section 507D(2), instead.
"If the available evidence is insufficient to secure a conviction under Section 507D(2), we hope further investigations can be carried out in that direction and that the prosecution be deferred for the time being," they said on Tuesday.
The lawyers appealed for all the teenagers involved to be charged with more serious offences if the existing evidence and the outcome of further investigations were sufficient to support charges under Section 507D(2) of the Penal Code.
“We are deeply concerned that if prosecution under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code proceeds and the all the accused plead guilty tomorrow or on subsequent dates and later investigations or an inquest uncover evidence that could prove an offence under Section 507D(2) or a more serious charge, they can no longer be prosecuted due to the principle of ‘double jeopardy’ enshrined in Article 7(2) of the Federal Constitution," they said.
In relation to this, the legal team said they had sent a letter to the AG on Tuesday morning via email regarding the matter.
The joint statement was issued by lawyers Hamid Ismail, Shahlan Jufri, Rizwandean M. Borhan, Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi, Mohd Syarulnizam Mohd Salleh and Farrah Nasser.
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