IPOH: Just because a child commits an offence when he is below the age of 18, it does not automatically entitle him to a hearing in the Court for Children, the High Court ruled yesterday.

High Court judge Datuk V.T. Singham said a child could only be tried in the Court for Children if he or she was charged before attaining 18.

He said the Child Act 2001 stated that if the person was a child at the time of the offence, but had attained 18 when he was charged, then the case could not be heard in a Court for Children.

Singham gave his ruling in a judicial revision of a case involving Muktasim Hashim, 21, who was charged with raping an underage girl in Sungkai in 2002.

At the time of the offence, Muktasim was 16 years and 8 months old, and the victim was 15 years and 4 months.
He was charged four years later, in July 2006, at the Court for Children at the Tapah magistrate's court when he had turned 18.

Despite the incorrect decision of the prosecution to charge Muktasim in the Court for Children, Tapah magistrate Teoh Chin Chong presided over the trial and heard testimonies from three witnesses, including the victim.

He was transferred before the completion of the trial.

His successor, magistrate Mohd Fairus Ismail, however, was not sure if the trial had complied with the express provisions of the Child Act.

On Nov 5, he wrote to Singham to get guidance from the High Court.

"The magistrate had written to this court to seek guidance whether the trial was normal, regular and legal. This court rules that it was not.

"The trial is irregular, abnormal and illegal because it contravenes the specific provisions of the Act," Singham ruled.

He said he was perturbed by the decision of the deputy public prosecutor's office to charge Muktasim in the Court for Children when Section 83 (3) of the Act had clearly stated that a minor or child should be charged in a normal court if the person had reached the age of 18.

Singham declared the trial null and void and ordered that Muktasim, represented by counsel T. Shan, be charged instead in the Teluk Intan Sessions Court today.

He also revoked Muktasim's bail of RM4,000 and ordered that the accused be taken into custody until he was charged at the Sessions Court, at which time a new application for bail could be put forward by the defence counsel.