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By Aniza Damis

KUALA LUMPUR, Mon. - The 10-year jail term awarded by the Ipoh High Court on Friday to a man who killed while a minor is justified, say several lawyers.

“The judge was perfectly within his legal rights to pass that sentence,” said Bar Council criminal law committee chairman V. Sithambaram.

“The Child Act 2001 allows the courts to imprison a child above 14 if the crime is punishable with imprisonment. So, while it is not a regular thing to sentence a minor to jail, it has been done in the past.”

However, Sithambaram said it was a pre-condition that, before sentencing a minor to a prison term, the judge would have to look for alternative forms of punishment.

“Usually, two things are taken into consideration when deciding on this. First, whether the child had any previous offences, and second, the manner and nature in which this crime had been committed.

“I think in this instance, for the judge to have imposed a sentence of 10 years’ jail, he must have ruled these (alternatives) out. As the judge pointed out it was an exceptional case,” he said.

However, Association of Women Lawyers vice-president and child advocate Yasmeen Shariff questioned the delay in the court process.

“Why did it take so long between the time when the boy was arrested (in 2002) and the time he was found guilty? Why did they wait until he was 20 before passing sentence?” said Yasmeen.

“Any hearing involving children should be dispensed with quickly. In cases involving government servants, for instance, the time limit is six months.”

She said the same consideration should be given to children because “the life and liberty of the child is wasting away as the court decides whether or not he is guilty”.

According to Prisons Department Legal Unit head M. Subramaniam, there are 130 children held in remand. The youngest of them are 12 children aged 14 years, who are in for a multitude of reasons, including immigration, drugs, Penal code and National Registration Department (no identity card) offences.

However, this does not include offenders who committed offences as children but came of age as they awaited trial.

Subramaniam said there was only one child who had been held longer than one year but less than three years. However, he was unable to give the exact length of time that the child had been detained.

“Most of the time, cases are settled within six months,” said Subramaniam. “Now (the system of hearing child cases) is quite fast.”

Yasmeen said the rights of the child must be protected.

However, she added that this did not mean that crimes committed by these children should be condoned.

“There must be justice at the end of the day - for both parties. If you commit an offence, you have to be accountable,” said Yasmeen, adding that judge Datuk V.T.Singham’s decision was fair.

Although Mohd Azmil Ahmad Azman, now 20, was only 17 when he stabbed Hasrizal Zakaria, leading to the latter’s death, the adult sentence of imprisonment brought no protest from the man’s lawyer.

“It is a fair sentence,” said Mahinderjit Singh. “Of course, if he had been sentenced under the Child Act, he would have gone to the Henry Gurney School and out when he reached 21 years, which is in 10 months’ time.

“Although I did ask for my client to be sent to the school, the DPP opposed it as it did not commensurate with the crime.”

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