Charges against the five teenage girls for allegedly verbally bullying Form 1 student Zara Qairina Mahathir may be amended if new evidence emerges, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said today.
He said it was not unusual for charges to be amended during the course of proceedings.
“Of course, the charges can be amended. It’s a normal part of the legal process. Sometimes the accused is initially charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code (for murder), which is later reduced to Section 304 (for culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
“That’s how the process works,” he said when winding-up the debate on the 13th Malaysia Plan (RMK13) in the Dewan Rakyat.
He was responding to a question from Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden (PN–Alor Setar) on whether the charges could be revised should new evidence surface during the inquest into Zara’s death.
Saifuddin, in response, explained that the inquest was intended to establish the cause of Zara’s death and that it was not an exercise in finding fault.
Earlier today, the five teenagers were charged in the children’s court in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, with verbally abusing Zara, who died last month.
They were charged with uttering abusive words against the victim which could have caused her distress.
They are accused of committing the offence at Block A-3-6 of SMK Agama Tun Datu Mustapha in Limauan, Papar, between 10pm and 11pm on July 15.
Zara was found unconscious at 4am on July 16 after allegedly falling from the third floor of her school’s hostel in Papar, Sabah. She died at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital in Kota Kinabalu the following day.
Her body was exhumed on Aug 9 to allow for a post-mortem amid allegations of bullying.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) yesterday defended its decision on the charges against the five teenagers, clarifying that the charges under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code related specifically to acts of bullying and were not connected to Zara’s death.
The AGC also dismissed a suggestion by lawyers representing Zara’s family that further probes or an inquest could later justify a more serious charge under Section 507D(2), saying this was “speculative and not supported by accurate facts”.
The lawyers had urged the AGC to postpone the charges against the five minors.
