KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — Three other witnesses will be called to testify in the defence trial of a teenager who was charged with murder over the death of 23 people in a fire at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah almost three years ago.

The defence trial scheduled to resume at the High Court here today was postponed following the government’s decision to extend the movement control order (MCO) to April 28 to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim told Bernama that the court had fixed May 14 for the next case management to set the new trial dates.

Lawyer Haijan Omar representing the teenager said that his client had finished giving his testimony.

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“The defence will call three other witnesses, bringing the total to four,” he said.

The teenager, now 19, had given his testimony from the witness stand on March 2 and 3.

On January 28, Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah ordered the teenager to enter his defence for the charge after the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against him, who was 16 when the tragedy occurred.

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However, the judge acquitted and discharged another person charged with him, also of the same age, without calling for his defence.

They were jointly charged with murdering and causing the death of the 23 inmates at the tahfiz centre at Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat, Wangsa Maju here, between 4.15am and 6.45am on September 14, 2017.

The charge, under Section 302 of the Penal Code, carries a mandatory death penalty 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 fine or compensation.

Those killed in the tragedy were 21 students and two teachers when they were trapped on the third floor of the religious residential school hostel. — Bernama