Two teens pleaded not guilty to murdering 23 students, teachers at tahfiz school

KUALA LUMPUR: Two 16-year-old boys were charged at the High Court here today with murdering 21 students and two teachers of the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school in September, last year.
The duo, clad in white pants and t-shirts, pleaded not guilty after the 23 charges were read to them one by one by the court interpreter before Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah.
They were were charged together with murdering and causing the death of 23 occupants of the tahfiz school's hostel located on Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat, here, between 4.15am and 6.45am on Sept 14, 2017.
The charge, under Section 302 of the Penal Code, provides for a mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
Earlier, Justice Azman reminded members of the media covering the trial not to disclose the identities and personal information of the two accused as they were juvenile delinquents.
Kuala Lumpur prosecution director Othman Abdullah and deputy public prosecutor Nurakmal Farhan Aziz prosecuted, while the two teenagers were represented by counsel Michelle Ng.
Lawyer Ariff Azami Hussein held a watching brief for the tahfiz school and some of the victims' families.
Nurakmal Farhan also submitted an initial objection to the court to have lawyers from Messrs Gobind Singh Deo be excluded or prohibited from representing both the accused.
"Any lawyer or legal officer from the law firm should be excluded or prohibited from representing both the accused on the ground that the firm is 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.
"This is because the defence already has access to what will be used during the trial," he said.
Michelle requested the court to set another date to enable the defence to seek further instruction from the firm as they had not received any notification on the matter.
The court set Feb 19 for remention. — Bernama