KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 — The High Court hearing the case of two teenage boys charged with causing the death of 23 occupants of Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah Tahfiz Centre, in a tragic fire last year, was told that there had been a fight between the tahfiz students and outside individuals.

The headmaster of the tahfiz centre, Ustaz Mohd Zahid Mahmood, 48, said the fight was understood to have stemmed over the use of a futsal court.

“I got the information from one of my ustaz at the centre, that there was some dispute between the tahfiz students and outside individuals over the futsal area.

“The outsiders claimed they had ‘conquered’ the futsal area, so my students cannot play, but the tahfiz students told them they had got there first,” he said during examination-in-chief by Kuala Lumpur prosecution director Othman Abdullah, at the seventh day of the trial today.

Mohd Zahid, who is the 17th prosecution witness, however, said the ustaz then asked the students to move to another area and play because they did not want to prolong or escalate the dispute.

Othman then told the witness to look at the two accused sitting on a chair outside the dock and asked whether the witness knew the two teens. However, Mohd Zahid said he had never seen the two boys implicated in the school fire.

Mohd Zahid said the tahfiz students were given time for recreation in the park or field near the tahfiz centre twice a week, that is on Sunday and Wednesday or extra days on Monday or Tuesday.

“They are monitored by three ustaz who accompany them and the students only play among themselves,” he said.

The two juveniles, then aged 16, are jointly charged with murdering and causing the death of 23 occupants at the tahfiz centre at Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat, here, between 4.15 am and 6.45 am on Sept 14, 2017.

They each face 23 counts of murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, and face the mandatory death sentence, upon conviction.

However, Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001 states that a death sentence shall not be pronounced or recorded against a person convicted of an offence if the child is under the age of 18, and in lieu of the death sentence, as provided under Section 97 (2) of the same law, the court shall order the person to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Section 94 of the same law also empowers the court to order the parents or guardians of the child offender to pay a fine or compensation.

In the 5.15am incident on Sept 14, 21 students and two teachers died when they were trapped on the third floor of the religious residential school hostel which was on fire.

The hearing before Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah continues tomorrow. — Bernama