Court: Evidence against youth in 2017 tahfiz fire strong
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has 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 Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah in Kuala Lumpur in 2017.
The court also rejected the prosecution’s appeal against the High Court’s decision to acquit and discharge another teenager, who is currently 22 years old, of the murder without calling for his defence.
The three-judge panel chaired by Justice Abu Bakar Jais, who sat together with Justices Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and See Mee Chun, unanimously dismissed the appeal after concluding that the High Court’s conviction of the youth should be upheld.
On Aug 17, 2020, the first teenager, now 22, was convicted by the High Court of the murders and ordered to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The first teenager was 16 during the time of the incident and was sentenced to jail as a minor according to Section 97(1) of the Children’s Act 2001, which prevents any death penalty for offenders under 18.
Justice Che Mohd Ruzima, who read out the panel’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, had climbed behind the school’s fence to start a fire in the school that killed 23 people.
Justice Che Mohd Ruzima said the panel agreed with the High Court that the CCTV footage which was presented by the prosecution as evidence was strong.
The CCTV footage from four different locations – namely, the Muslim Consumers Association Malaysia office nearby, a petrol station, a snooker centre and the residence of the appellant’s neighbour – proved that the appellant was involved in causing the fire intentionally.
“It only points to one direction, that is PKK1 (the appellant) had climbed over the back fence of the tahfiz school, together with an unidentified individual, to start the fire.
“The appellant’s appeal is rejected since the defence did not present its argument against the sentence (jail) meted out by the High Court.
“As such, the decision is upheld,” the judge said.
He also said the 68th and 69th prosecution witnesses had testified seeing the appellant climbing over the back gate of the tahfiz centre and entering the grounds from the back.
The CCTV footage also showed that the appellant was holding a plastic water bottle believed to be filled with petrol.
According to the forensic report by the Fire and Rescue Department, there was evidence of accelerant from petrol and two gas cylinders that were found at the dormitory doors of the tahfiz centre and that the cause of the fire was intentional.
Testimony from the police said the first teenager also showed the cigarette lighter believed to be used to light the fire at the tahfiz centre.
In the Court of Appeal’s decision to discharge and acquit the second teenager in the case, Justice Che Mohd Ruzima said there was no reason to alter the High Court’s decision to acquit the co-accused.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court verdict on August 2020 found that it was difficult to ascertain that the co-accused was present at the scene during a particular time of the fire that caused the 23 deaths based on testimonies of prosecution witnesses and CCTV footage.
“The decision of the High Court to release and acquit PKK2 of all 23 charges at the end of the prosecution’s case is correct in terms of facts and law.
“Therefore, the prosecutor’s appeal is without merit and should be rejected.
“The decision of the High Court is upheld,” he said.
Lawyer Haijan Omar represented both the appellant and co-accused, while the prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutor How May Ling.
In the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal of the second teenager in May, How had submitted that the fire must have been caused by more than one perpetrator as it was impossible for a 16-year-old boy to lift two gas cylinders weighing 28kg in one go.
Haijan argued that there were no witnesses who testified that the second teenager had set the school on fire, adding that the prosecution only relied on circumstantial evidence to support their case.
The prosecution had called a total of 71 witnesses while six defence witnesses were called to testify throughout the trial that began on May 30, 2018.
In the tragic incident on Sept 14, 2017, a total of 21 students and two teachers of the tahfiz centre, located at Kampung Datuk Keramat, died after being trapped on the third floor of the school’s dormitory that had caught fire.
