Teen girl charged with murder of baby applies for release on bail

PUTRAJAYA – The teenage girl facing a charge of killing her newborn son has filed an application in the Court of Appeal seeking to be released on bail pending her trial.

In a media statement, lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo representing the 15-year-old girl said the notice of motion for bail was filed today.

The girl was charged in the Kemaman magistrates’ court on February 15 this year with killing her baby at a house in Seri Bandi in Kemaman, Terengganu, between 7am and 9am on February 8.

However, she was denied bail pending trial. 

Her application to be referred for mental health evaluation was also rejected by the magistrates’ court.

The teenager subsequently filed an application in the Terengganu High Court to review the decision of the magistrates’ court which disallowed her application to be released on bail.

The girl was unsuccessful in her review application which was dismissed by the high court on March 8 and she remained in detention.

The high court, however, had allowed part of the girl’s revision application by ordering for her to be referred for psychiatric evaluation.

Reported to have been pregnant after being raped, she was arrested after police found a dead newborn baby at a house in Kemaman on February 8. 

Kemaman district police chief Hanyan Ramlan had said that preliminary investigations found that the baby, who was found dead with chest injuries, had been stabbed with a sharp object. 

The teenager was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the death penalty if convicted.

However, offenders under the age of 18 cannot be sentenced to death under Section 97(2) of the Child Act 2001 and may be commuted to imprisonment for a period as determined by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, sultan, or Yang Dipertua Negeri, depending on where the offence occurred.

On February 18, the Attorney-General’s Chambers in a statement said that it could still investigate and review the murder charge against the teenager who allegedly stabbed her baby to death, and replace it with another charge. – Bernama, March 16, 2022