PETALING JAYA: A petition calling on the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to appeal the court’s decision in the Bandar Utama school stabbing case has been backed by the victim’s mother, who urged the public to sign it.
In a Facebook post, Wong Lee Ping, the mother of Yap Shing Xuen, said the family respected the court, legal proceedings and judicial process, but felt there was little it could do as the victim’s family.
“We are neither judges nor prosecutors. We are simply a family who has lost our daughter,” she said.
Wong said the family hoped the proper legal process would be given serious consideration and that any right to appeal available under the law could be exercised.
“We are not asking anyone to prejudge the outcome of the case.
“We only hope that the proper legal process will be given serious consideration, the right to appeal, where legally available, can be duly exercised, and that the voice of a mother who has lost her daughter will be heard,” she said.
She urged members of the public who cared about school safety and the rights and welfare of children and young people to help spread the appeal.
Wong also appealed to legal professionals and those with knowledge and experience in criminal law and appellate proceedings to come forward to provide the family with guidance and assistance.
She said the family understood that whether an appeal should be filed and how it should be pursued ultimately involved the prosecution authorities and the legal process.
“Even ordinary lawyers have their limitations in how they can assist us,” she said.
The family has called on supporters to sign a petition seeking an appeal by the AGC and to submit their appeal through the AGC’s public complaints system.
Yap, 16, was fatally stabbed at a school in Bandar Utama last year.
On Monday (Sept 14), the High Court in Shah Alam acquitted the 15-year-old boy of murder on grounds of insanity over the fatal stabbing of Yap, ordering him to be detained at a psychiatric hospital for treatment after a psychiatrist testified that he has schizophrenia.
Wong said the family was not seeking to prejudge the case but wanted the matter to receive the review it was entitled to under the law.
“For Shing Xuen, and for every child who deserves to come home safely,” she said.
