PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has fixed July 14 to decide on the appeal by a teenager found guilty of the murder of 23 people in the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah Tahfiz Centre fire in 2017.
A three-member panel comprising Justices Datuk Abu Bakar Jais, Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Datuk See Mee Chun will also decide on the same day on the prosecution's appeal against the acquittal of another teenager in the case without ordering him to enter his defence.
ALSO READ: Tahfiz fire murder case: March 9 set for teen's appeal hearing
Justice Abu Bakar, who chaired the panel, said they were not prepared to deliver the decision on Thursday (May 11) as they needed to go through the oral and written submissions by the prosecution and defence.
Earlier, the court heard the submission by deputy public prosecutor How May Ling and lawyer Haijan Omar over the prosecution’s appeal against the High Court decision to acquit and discharge the second teenager, now aged 22, without calling for his defence.
The appeal by the first teenager against the High Court’s Aug 17, 2020 decision, which found him guilty and ordered him to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang-di-Pertuan Agong, was heard on March 9 this year.
ALSO READ: Teen convicted for tahfiz fire deaths
Both teenagers, who were 16 at the time, together with another unidentified individual, were accused of murder in causing the deaths of 23 people staying at the tahfiz centre at Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat, Wangsa Maju here, between 4.15am and 6.45am on Sept 14, 2017.
In Thursday's proceeding, How urged the court to make an order for the second teenager to enter his defence on the charge.
She said it was impossible for one person to have caused the fire at the school as there were two gas tanks weighing 14kg each that were carried from the ground floor of the school to the second floor via the staircase.
ALSO READ: Tahfiz arson: One teen to enter defence for murder, one acquitted
She said one gas tank was placed horizontally at the door and another one vertically; petrol was splashed on the door and a fire was lit.
"It is impossible for one person (to have done it), it was done by two persons,” she added.
She said circumstantial evidence showed there were four persons seen at the back of the tahfiz school – the first and second teenager and two other male individuals, who are brothers – with the first teenager and another unidentified individual entering the tahfiz school by climbing the back fence.
She added it was more likely that the second teenager, who was small and thin, was able to go through the small opening in the barbed-wire fence and enter the school compound rather than the brothers.
Haijan, representing the two appellants, said there was no positive identification that the second teenager entered the school, and said it could not be ruled out that the brothers were the ones who went inside.
He said there was also no evidence to show that the second teenager was involved in the crime and therefore, there was no need for him to enter his defence. – Bernama
