A Malaysia Boleh Achievement of The Wrong Kind.

Youngest Person Convicted Of Murder (NST Headline)
On July 24, 2003, a 12-year-old boy became the youngest person found guilty of murder in the nation’s history.

High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Maarop found the boy guilty of murder under section 302 of the Penal Code. He said section 97(2) of the Child Act 2001 provided that juveniles convicted of murder be detained in prison at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Ahmad ordered the boy to be separated from adult offenders.

The judge said although he considered mitigation by the boy’s counsel, Karpal Singh, that the court could decide not to send the offender to prison at the pleasure of the King, he had a different view.

He said section 97(2) stated that in lieu of the death sentence, the court shall order a person convicted of an offence to be detained in a prison at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong if the offence was committed in the Federal Territory, or the Ruler or the Yang di-Pertua Negeri if the offence was committed in the state.

Karpal had said that the court should use its discretion in not sending the boy to prison as there was no facility for a child to have a proper education.

The counsel said sending the boy, whose ambition was to become a lawyer, to prison would be counter-productive for the boy who was a good student.

He had said the court should also take into account the boy’s probation report which did not state anything adverse about him. The probation report presented by welfare officer Sulaiman Ismail stated that the boy had parents who emphasised on education. He had also done well in his Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah examination and never played truant. It was also stated that the boy was very remorseful.

The boy was convicted of murdering the girl using a sharp object at her house between 3.30pm and 4.30pm on May 30, 2002. The victim had multiple stab wounds on the back, chest, neck and right upper limbs. She sustained 20 stab wounds and four slash wounds. Throughout the trial, the boy was on bail of RM50,000 in two sureties.

Ahmad later rejected an application for bail pending appeal to the Court of Appeal because of insufficient grounds. The Court of Appeal too rejected an application for bail, citing that public interest would be displaced if it was allowed.

***** I bet this is one event that won't be recorded in the Malaysia Book of Records. What is our country coming to? What about the young lad? Do you think that justice is well and truly served by him doing time in prison or should the judge have used his discretion and sent him to a reform school? Would you send even your worst enemy's young son to a prison inhabited by the most dangerous characters on the planet? Just put yourself in the place of that young chap and at least try to understand what he must be feeling and all the evil he will soon experience in jail. For all the misery caused and violence that he has perpetrated, I pity him.
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