The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) has filed an appeal against the High Court’s decision to acquit a 15-year-old boy who was charged with murdering a schoolmate, citing insanity as the basis for his actions. The notice of appeal was submitted to the Court of Appeal on September 22.

The original ruling was handed down on September 14 by Justice Adlin Abdul Majid at the Shah Alam High Court, who acquitted the teenager of murder charges but ordered his detention and treatment at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta in Perak. The detention is to be carried out at the discretion of the Sultan of Selangor.

The juvenile was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which prescribes either the death penalty or life imprisonment of up to 40 years, along with a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane for convictions not resulting in death sentences. However, Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001 prohibits capital punishment for offenders under 18 years of age.

Justice Adlin’s detailed judgment, spanning 77 pages and published on the judiciary’s website, was based significantly on the expert testimony of Dr. Ian Lloyd Anthony, a court-appointed forensic psychiatrist who served as a defense witness. Dr. Anthony provided a 27-page psychiatric report diagnosing the teen with early onset schizophrenia, a diagnosis that the court accepted without dispute.

The incident occurred on October 14, 2025, when the then 14-year-old Form One student allegedly fatally stabbed a 16-year-old female pupil in the school washroom in Bandar Utama between 9:20 a.m. and 9:35 a.m. The acquittal on grounds of insanity has prompted the AGC’s decision to challenge the verdict in a higher court.