SHAH ALAM: A 15-year-old boy accused of stabbing a 16-year-old schoolmate to death at a secondary school in Bandar Utama was ordered by the High Court here on Thursday (Aug 13) to enter his defence.
High Court Judge Adlin Abdul Majid made the ruling after finding that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against the accused, reported Sinar Harian.
As the accused was a minor at the time of the alleged offence, proceedings were held behind closed doors, with attendance restricted to the prosecution, defence team and family members.
Defence counsel Kitson Foong confirmed the ruling when contacted by reporters.
Foong stated that the defence subsequently began its case, calling two witnesses: the accused teenager and Dr Ian Lloyd Anthony, a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist from Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta. On Jan 16, a psychiatric evaluation confirmed that the boy was mentally fit to stand trial.
The accused—who was 14 years old and a Form One transition student at the time of the incident—is charged with murdering the female student between 9.20am and 9.35am on Oct 14, 2025.
No plea was recorded during his initial appearance at the Petaling Jaya Magistrate's Court, as murder cases fall strictly under High Court jurisdiction.
The charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the death penalty or a prison sentence between 30 and 40 years, along with a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane. However, under Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001, offenders under the age of 18 cannot be sentenced to death.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharudin, Aqharie Durranie Aziz, Ahmad Iqbal Azman, and Nurul 'Izzati Mohamad represented the prosecution.
The defence team also included lawyers Chew Jee San, Angel Choo, and Yan Zhi Wei, while Datuk Yasmeen Shariff and Jason Lim Jie Sheng held a watching brief for the Malaysian Bar Council and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
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