Fatal tahfiz fire: Prosecution to file notice of preliminary objection
KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution in the case involving two 16-year-old boys charged with murdering 21 students and two teachers of the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school will file a notice of preliminary objection to the court to have lawyers from Gobind Singh Deo & Co excluded or prohibited from representing both the accused.
Kuala Lumpur Prosecution director Othman Abdullah told the court today that the notice would be filed within this week.
He said this when the case was mention before High Court Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah.
However, lawyer Gobind Singh Deo said that they had yet to receive any application from the prosecution concerning the preliminary objection.
“So far, there is no application filed by the prosecution and we don’t even know the grounds stated in the application,” he said.
Justice Azman set March 14 for clarification and additional submissions on the preliminary objection.
On January 30, the prosecution submitted verbally to court the preliminary objection to have lawyers from Gobind Singh Deo & Co excluded or prohibited from representing both the accused on the grounds that the law firm was already representing two other accused in the trial at the Magistrate’s Court, and that the two accused would also appear as the key witnesses in this case, hence the defence would have access to what would be used in the trial.
The two teenagers were jointly charged with murdering and causing the death of 23 occupants of the tahfiz’s hostel located in Kampung Datuk Keramat here between 4.15 am and 6.45 am on September 14, 2017.
The charge, under Section 302 of the Penal Code, provides for a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
However, Section 97 (1) of the Child Act 2001 stated the death penalty cannot be imposed on children under the age of 18.
Nevertheless, the court may imprison them for as long as consented by the Yang diPertuan Agong or to order the parents of the suspects to pay a fine or compensation under Section 94 of the same Act.