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SHAH ALAM – “I apologise for what happened that caused the death.”
These were the words of a 15-year-old boy to his lawyer, Kitson Foong, during the defence proceedings at the High Court here on Thursday.
The involves the murder of a 16-year-old female student in an incident at a secondary school in Bandar Utama, last year.
The proceedings before High Court Judge Adlin Abdul Majid were conducted in camera and attended only by the prosecution and the defence teams as well as family members, given that the teenager is still a minor.
When met outside the court, Foong said his client, as the first defence witness, gave evidence outside the dock after reading a brief statement in Mandarin.
“After being ordered to enter his defence, he gave an unsworn statement in Mandarin without cross-examination by the prosecution.
“He apologised for what happened that caused the death at the school,” he said.
He added that the proceedings continued with testimony from a consultant forensic psychiatrist from Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Dr Ian Lloyd Anthony, as the second and final defence witness.
On Jan 16, the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court was informed that a psychiatric report confirmed the teenager was fit to stand trial.
The student, who was 14 years old at the time of the incident and a Form One transition student, was charged with murdering his schoolmate between 9.20am and 9.35am on Oct 14, 2025.
No plea was recorded from the teenager as the case falls under the jurisdiction of the High Court.
The charge was framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which provides for the death penalty or imprisonment of between 30 and 40 years and if the death penalty is not imposed, whipping of not less than 12 strokes upon conviction.
However, Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001 stipulates that the death penalty cannot be imposed on children under the age of 18.
The prosecution was handled by deputy public prosecutors Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharudin, Aqharie Durranie Aziz, Ahmad Iqbal Azman, and Nurul ‘Izzati Mohamad.
Meanwhile, the accused was also represented by lawyers Chew Jee San, Angel Choo and Yan Zhi Wei.
Watching briefs were held by Datuk Yasmeen Shariff and Jason Lim Jie Sheng on behalf of the Bar Council and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
The proceedings resume at 2.30pm on Thursday.
