Women break down when shown pictures of sons

KUALA LUMPUR: Tears flowed freely in the High Court hearing the case of two juveniles charged with murder for the death of 23 inmates in a fire at a tahfiz centre in Datuk Keramat here last year when the mother of four of the victims were called to identify the pictures of their respective sons.

Deputy public prosecutor Nurakmal Farhan Aziz, who prosecuted, called the four women – unemployed Khairunnisaa’ Khairuddin, 33; teacher Mazzaini Muda, 48; Rien Erliana Marjuni, 50, who is a clerk at the Indonesian Embassy and Emmi Farizah Abd Aziz, 38, a cashier at Jakel Trading – who are the 29th, 30th, 31st and 32nd prosecution witness, respectively, were called to identify the pictures which were taken when the, children were alive.

Khairunnisaa’ lost her six-yearold son Umar Al-Khattab in the fire, while Mazzaini, her 13-yearold son Ahmad Rijal Mohammad Rodzi, Rien Erliana (Muhammad Taufiq Hidayat, 16), Emmi Farizah lost two sons, Azkar Abidi, 11, and Azkar Darimi, 8.

During re-examination by the prosecution, the four women were called separately into the trial room and showed the pictures of their sons.

They looked calm at first, but were lost for words and began wiping their tears when looking at the pictures.

Questioned by Nurakmal Farhan when did she know about the fire at the tahfiz centre, Khairunnisaa’ said at 6.30 am on Sept 14, 2017 when informed by a friend of her husband, whose son was also a student at the centre.

As for Mazzaini, she knew about it after reading a message in the Whatsapp group formed for parents of students at the centre.

Rien Erliana said she knew about it from her oldest son.

“My oldest child was watching the 7 am news on TV3 and said ‘mama, tahfiz Taufik (Muhammad Taufiq Hidayat) is on fire,”, she said, adding that she immediately called her ex-husband who confirmed it.

Meanwhile, Emmi Farizah said she got the news from her sister, who also sent her son to the same tahfiz centre.

The four women said after knowing about the fire, they went to the centre and were then asked to go to the Forensic Department at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital to identify the bodies and give their blood samples.

Two boys, who were then aged 16, were jointly charged with the murder and causing the death of the 23 people at the 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, and faced the mandatory death sentence, if found guilty.