2017 tahfiz fire: Apex court to hear appeal over arsonist's conviction

A 22-year-old has gone to the apex court to quash his murder conviction and jail sentence over a tahfiz fire six years ago that claimed the lives of 23 victims.

Haijan Omar, the counsel for the appellant who was found guilty of committing the offence when he was 16, confirmed to Malaysiakini that the matter is now before the Federal Court in Putrajaya.

"The appeal was filed on Sept 21," the lawyer said over the incident at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah, Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat in Wangsa Maju, on Sept 14, 2017.

On whether the prosecution has filed a cross-appeal with the apex court to overturn the acquittal of another 22-year-old who was acquitted without his defence being called, Haijan said prosecutors are not appealing.

Malaysiakini is attempting to contact the prosecution on whether it is not proceeding with the cross-appeal with the Federal Court.

Final avenue

As the criminal trial was decided at the High Court level and the Court of Appeal had already dealt with an initial appeal, the Federal Court is the final avenue left for both the defence and prosecution teams.

On Sept 11, the Court of Appeal denied the defence's appeal to overturn the guilty verdict and sentence of being detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (due to the accused being 16 at the time of the incident).

On that same date, the three-person appellate bench also rejected the prosecution's cross-appeal to reverse the acquittal of the co-accused.

On Aug 17, 2020, the Kuala Lumpur High Court convicted the first accused of 23 murder charges and ordered him to be detained at the pleasure of His Majesty.

However, earlier in 2020 the same court acquitted the co-accused when it found that prosecutors failed to establish a prima facie case against the co-accused.

The two were initially jointly charged with the murder, but the charge was later amended following the decision at the end of the prosecution’s case, which saw one of them being discharged and acquitted without his defence being called.

According to the amended charge, the other accused together with another individual who was not identified, was charged with the murder and causing the death of the 23 occupants - 21 students and two school wardens - at the tahfiz centre, between 4.15am and 6.45am on Sept 14, 2017.

He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, which specifies the mandatory death sentence.

However, per Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001, a death sentence shall not be pronounced against a convicted person who was under the age of 18 at the time of the offence.

Section 97(2) of the same Act provides that the court shall order the person instead to be detained at the pleasure of the Agong.

Section 94 of the same law also empowers the court to order the child offender's parents or guardian to pay a fine or compensation.

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