KUALA LUMPUR: It was a sombre scene at the High Court today when several mothers of children killed in the Pusat Tahfiz Darul Ittifaqiyah fire on Sept 14 last year came to testify.
Four of them tried to hold back their tears when deputy public prosecutor Nurakmal Farhan Aziz asked them to identify their respective children through photographs.
The 29th prosecution witness Khairunnisaa Khairuddin, 33, said the last time she saw his six year old son Umar Al-Khatab Helmi, who perished in the fire, was a week before the incident when he returned home for holiday.
“My husband’s friend who also sent his son to the same tahfiz called at about 6.30am and informed us about the incident.
“My husband rushed to the scene and called me around 11am to inform me that our eldest was gone,” said the mother of five children.
A teacher Mazaini Musa, 48, said she knew about the incident through WhatsApp group and rushed to the scene.
“I knew my son Ahmad Rijal Mohammad Rodzi, 13, had died during the incident 10 to 15 minutes after I arrived at the scene,” she said in-between sobs.
Rein Erliana Marjuni, 50, who worked at the Indonesian embassy, said she managed to identify her 16-year-old son Muhammad Taufik Hidayat Norazizan through his remains.
“I could identify him as his face was not burnt during the incident,” she said.
Cashier Emmi Farizah Abd Aziz, 38, who lost two sons in the fire - Azkar Abiedi F. Zaska, 11, and Azkar Dariemi F. Zaska, 8, - said she could recognise Azkar Abiedi through his remains.
“However, it was hard to identify Azkar Dariemi as his remains were charred,” she said.
All of them also told the court they gave their blood samples at the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IPFN), Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), on the day of the incident.
The mothers said they had received their respective children’s remains on Friday.
Two boys, who were then aged 16, were jointly charged with the murder and causing the death of 23 people at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Ittifaqiyah in Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat, here, between 4.15 am and 6.45 am on Sept 14, 2017.
They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides for 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.
The duo were represented by counsel Haijan Omar.
In the fire incident at 5.15am on Sept 14 , 21 students and two teachers were killed, after being trapped on the third floor of the religious residential school hostel.
The trial continues on Dec 29 before Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah.