The Seremban High court today found eight students guilty of murdering their schoolmate last March and ordered them to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan.

According to Bernama , the teenagers remained calm initially but broke down when the Justice Azhar Ma'ah completed reading the 80-page judgement after about 50 minutes.

The courtroom was packed with the parents and relatives of the eight convicted students. Also preset were the parents of the deceased fourth former Muhammad Farid Ibrahim.

All of them were students of Sekolah Menengah Agama (SMA) Dato' Klana Petra Ma'amor

In his judgment, Azhar advised the students to learn from this episode and never repeat the same mistake in the future.

"Like the Malay proverb i kut nafsu lesu, ikut rasa binasa, ikut hati mati (If you follow your urge, you will be weakened, if you follow your desire you will face ruin, if you follow your heart you will face death)," he said.

Age factor

He said all eight students were fortunate for under the civil law they were still considered juveniles even though in Islam they had attained the age of puberty and know how to differentiate between good and evil.

"Hence the court cannot impose the death sentence even though all have been found guilty under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which only provides for the death sentence."

"I hope you will regret what you have done and repent over it," he said.

Azhar said the evidence of several prosecution witnesses such as Mohd Firdaus Azmi, Mohd Afiq Mohd Yusri, Muhammad Nurul Asyraf Abdul Hait and Muhammad Hazwan Amran was clear and consistent that the eight assaulted Muhammad Farid causing him to die.

He said there were minor discrepancies but all facts were consistent and were acceptable to the court.

He noted that Seremban Hospital pathologist Dr Sharifah Safoorah Syed Alwee Al'Idrus had testified that there were 24 bruises all over Muhammad Farid's body and six on his head, which could have been caused by beating with a blunt object and there was also brain hemorrhage.

On the evidence adduced by the defence, all eight tried to deny their involvement in the incident, but their excuses could not be accepted even though the first and fourth witness said they saw six to seven people surrounding the victim, but they were unable to identify them.

"It is impossible that they cannot identify those who surrounded and beat the victim, as they were also present there," the judge said.

Hence the defence had failed to prove that the eight were not involved in the case.

Forgiveness sought

As the judge read out his judgement, Muhammad Farid's mother Norizan Ishak, 45, broke out into tears.

Many family members were also unable to control their tears when they heard how the victim was beaten to death.

Muhammad Farid's parents later met with the eight for several minutes and according to Bernama, it is learnt that the boys had sough forgiveness from them.

In the course of the 18-day trial a total of 25 witnesses testified including 11 who gave evidence during the trial within a trial to establish if the cautioned statement made by the fifth accused was made voluntarily.