KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — A scientific officer told the High Court in the trial of two teenage boys charged with the murder of 23 occupants of Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah, that traces of petrol were found on samples taken from the building where fire broke out, in September last year.

Yusnita Osman, 38, who works at the Fire Investigation Laboratory, Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department said the traces of petrol were found on fire residues which were analysed after the samples were received on Sept 14, 2017 from a senior fire superintendent.

"I checked all the marked boxes which each contained a nylon bag fastened with a cable tie. Each of the nylon bags contained residues of the fire, from the concrete wall, inner wall and wooden cupboards,” she said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Othman Abdullah on the second day of the trial here, today.

The third prosecution witness said she conducted a validation test with a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer and used Fourier Transform Infra-Red to identify the samples before detecting that the ignitable liquid residue was of petroleum derivatives.

She said she was given seven samples but only four of the samples were confirmed to have traces of liquid fuels.

The witness said that there were also ‘polyvinyl chloride’ (PVC) substances detected in one sample while two other samples did not have any trace of flammable fluid.

The fourth prosecution witness, Fire and Rescue Department Investigation Division senior superintendent Ashari Johari, 37, said he found two gas cylinders at the second-storey front door of the hostel, while conducting an investigation on the day of the incident.

"The two gas cylinders were at the entrance of the dormitory, one tank was in an upright position while the other was lying on its side,” said Ashari who was tasked with collecting seven samples of evidence from the centre.

Earlier, both gas cylinders which were wrapped with black plastic bag and fastened with a cable tie were brought in for identification purposes.

At today’s proceeding the prosecution was also conducted by deputy public prosecutor Nurakmal Farhan Aziz while both accused were represented by counsel Haijan Omar.

The two teenagers are jointly facing 23 counts of committing murder at the Darul Ittifaqiyah Tahfiz centre, in Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat here, between 4.15am and 6.45am, on September 14, 2017.

The charges are framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence, upon conviction.

However, under Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001, offenders under 18 years old cannot be sentenced to death, but the court can impose a jail sentence for any length of time at the pleasure of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, and Section 94 of the same Act gives the court the power to order the parents to pay a fine or compensation.

In the 5.15am incident on September 14, 2017, 21 students and two wardens of the centre were killed after being trapped on the third floor of the school’s dormitory.

The trial before Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah continues on July 2. — Bernama