Malaysia

Burning a classmate to death! Malaysia's worst school bullying case... Judge: Send all the bullies to the gallows!

It all started with a laptop. On May 13, 2017, Akmal, a 21-year-old third-year student at the Naval College of the National Defence University of Malaysia, returned to his dormitory to find his newly purchased laptop missing. His first suspect was his classmate Zulfadhan, whom he disliked. That evening, Akmal, along with some friends, confronted Zulfadhan, but Zulfadhan vehemently denied the theft, and the meeting ended badly.

A week later, a classmate named Ashraf told Akmal that his father was a well-known local shaman who could use witchcraft to find the thief. Although this sounded absurd, shamans wield considerable influence in Malaysian society, and Akmal, deeply believing in witchcraft, went home with Ashraf that very day. After a series of rituals performed by the shaman, he claimed to have received divine guidance that Zulfadhan was the thief. At 2:30 AM on May 21st, Akmal gathered over 30 students and went to Zufarhan's dormitory, where they pinned him to the ground and severely beat him, forcing him to confess to stealing a computer. At the National Defense University, students tend to resolve disputes privately, unwilling to report to superiors. Furthermore, stealing is considered extremely despised in group life, so other students often intervened to help. Zufarhan was beaten by a group of people from 2:30 AM until dawn, but even after such severe beatings, he refused to confess—he hadn't stolen anything, so how could he admit it?

At 1:00 AM the next morning, Akmal again gathered a group of students, took Zufarhan to an empty dormitory room, stripped him naked, tied his hands and feet to a table corner, and repeatedly whipped him with belts, clothes hangers, and a water pipe. The beating lasted for over two hours, until the perpetrators were exhausted. Seeing that Zufarhan still refused to confess, a student named Abdul Hajin brought out a steam iron that everyone used to iron their military uniforms. The iron, which reaches temperatures of up to 200°C, was used by five perpetrators, including Akmal, to repeatedly press against Zulfarhan's body, even targeting his genitals. Zulfarhan suffered burns to over 80% of his body, some of which were third-degree burns due to repeated scalding, causing permanent damage to his skin. Even more horrifying, they deliberately avoided Zulfarhan's face and arms during the assault, knowing that these areas would be exposed by clothing, and that their cruelty would be revealed if the wounds were exposed. That night, Zulfarhan's screams echoed throughout the dormitory, yet no one intervened. The inhuman torture finally ended the following morning.

The next day, Zulfarhan, too badly injured to attend class, lay dying in his dormitory bed. His friend, Opha, visited him and found him covered in blisters, his severely burned areas blackened and oozing pus. Ofa considered seeking help from his superiors, but feared that if Akmal and his gang found out, he would suffer the same fate. He wrote two anonymous letters, one slipped into the school's military hospital and the other given to high-ranking officials. However, after receiving the letters, the school administration simply posted them in the campus group chat, demanding that the students in dormitory 410 come to the office to explain the situation. Upon learning that someone had reported him, Akmal immediately moved Zufarhan to a rented apartment off-campus. When school officials went to check the dormitory, it was already empty. Akmal and his associates were also trying to find out who had reported him, which made Ofa even more hesitant to seek outside help. Zufarhan was thus imprisoned in the suburban apartment, receiving no medical treatment.

On May 27th, five days after Zufarhan was burned, his injuries worsened daily. Akmal, Azhamuddin, Afif, and Abdul Hajin, the four main perpetrators, finally drove Zufarhan to a small clinic in the suburbs for treatment. When the clinic doctor, Azfa, saw Zufarhan, he was utterly shocked by the severe burns covering his entire body. Akma and the others lied, claiming they were military academy students and that Zufarhan had been injured in an explosion during training. The doctor didn't doubt this story, but still wrote a referral, recommending that Zufarhan be taken to a larger hospital as soon as possible. However, Akma and the others ignored this advice and took Zufarhan back to their apartment.

On May 31st, Zufarhan became even weaker, vomiting frequently, severely dehydrated, and even unable to dress himself. Akma and Azamudin took him to the small clinic again for a consultation. The doctor questioned why he hadn't gone to a larger hospital, and Zufarhan weakly said he felt much better, asking the doctor to re-bandage his wounds, promising to go to a larger hospital immediately afterward. Even so, Akma and the others still didn't take him to a larger hospital. Around 9 pm the following evening, Azabuni noticed that Zufarhan's body had become stiff and finally called an ambulance, but it was too late. From the torture that began in the early hours of May 21st and 22nd, Zulfadhan received no effective medical treatment for ten days. He ultimately succumbed to bacterial infection, severe dehydration, and multiple organ failure caused by his severe burns, and was pronounced dead at the hospital. The forensic report showed that Zulfadhan suffered 90 burns, 28 of which were third-degree burns, covering 80% of his body.

Following Zulfadhan's death, police classified the case as murder and arrested 36 students involved in the incident at the National Defense University on June 4th. The university only took the incident seriously after the death, and the then Minister of Defense immediately ordered a thorough investigation by the armed forces.

After a six-month investigation, the High Court held its first hearing on the case on January 29, 2018. Nineteen students involved in the bullying were charged with assault, while six main perpetrators—Akmal, Abdul Hajin, Najib, Azhamuddin, Afif, and Sobinin—were charged with murder. All those involved pleaded not guilty, claiming they had no intention of harming Zufarhan, but only wanted to give him a warning. Akmal denied any intent to murder and denied all charges of taking turns torturing him with an iron. Afif told the prosecutor that he and Zufarhan were good friends, and that he only placed the smoking iron on him for one second, not knowing how hot it was. Azamuddin played the victim, saying he had been with Zufarhan during his final days, helping him change his dressings and taking him to the doctor.

Zufhan's mother, Hawa Osman, wept uncontrollably in court after hearing this. Since her son's death, she had developed cataracts from crying every day, causing blurred vision. Zufarhan was the eldest son in his family, with three younger siblings. His mother worked in a high school cafeteria, and his father earned a living as a taxi driver. The days before Zufarhan's murder were during Ramadan, the most important Muslim holiday, equivalent to the Chinese Lunar New Year. Zulfadhan's younger brother had prepared a new grey outfit for him, but Zulfadhan would never have the chance to wear it.

Because this was an extremely serious case of school bullying, it received widespread attention in Malaysian society. Zulfadhan's parents appeared in public wearing custom-made T-shirts printed with slogans such as "Reject Bullying" and "Justice for Zulfadhan," firmly believing that the judiciary would bring justice for their son. The legal team for the six defendants decided to plead guilty to manslaughter in court, arguing that burns under normal circumstances do not lead to death, unlike injuries caused by deadly weapons such as knives or guns. Furthermore, they argued that Zulfadhan did not die at the scene of the bullying but rather several days later due to complications. In Malaysia, the maximum penalty for manslaughter is 30 years imprisonment, not the death penalty.

After a lengthy three-year trial, the High Court finally delivered its first-instance verdict on November 2, 2021. The judge wrote in the verdict that the burns were not the direct cause of Zulfahan's death; his death was caused by a bacterial lung infection resulting from the burns, which was attributed to the clinic's failure to provide adequate medical care. Therefore, the six defendants were not found guilty of murder, but were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The remaining 12 defendants were sentenced to 3 years in prison for assault. This verdict was undoubtedly devastating for Zulfahan's parents, and the prosecutor, believing the sentence to be too lenient, appealed. The six defendants also appealed, arguing that 18 years was too long. Subsequently, the global COVID-19 pandemic brought the trial to a standstill.

The case resumed on May 14, 2024, in the appellate court. In the appeals court, a three-judge panel, led by Hadaria, unanimously ruled on July 23, 2024, to overturn the High Court's previous manslaughter conviction of the six defendants. He spent three hours reading a 93-page verdict, stating that the defendants' actions not only shocked the judiciary but also shook the collective conscience of society. He described the case as extremely cruel and dangerous, demanding immediate intervention, and called it "a rare occurrence." In his verdict, he said, "When the deceased's body is returned to its parents for burial, which parent wouldn't feel grief, anger, and despair? Which parent would want to see their beloved child suffer such torment, dying in fear and agony?" Faced with this heinous crime, Hadaria stated that only one appropriate punishment was to send the six defendants to the gallows.

The court overturned the manslaughter charge because when Akmal and others took Zufarhan to the clinic, the doctor clearly stated that his life would be in danger if he wasn't immediately taken to a major hospital. However, the defendants ignored this advice, only taking him to the hospital when his condition had deteriorated to a critical point. Furthermore, according to the forensic autopsy report, Zufarhan suffered burns to 80% of his body, which was potentially fatal—what kind of accidental injury could cause burns to 80% of the body? Based on the above reasons, the court overturned the first-instance verdict, finding six defendants guilty of murder and sentencing them to death by hanging. The sentences of the remaining 12 defendants convicted of assault were increased from three to four years.

After Judge Hadaria read the verdict, Zulfarhan's parents walked out of the courtroom, weeping uncontrollably and kneeling on the ground, thanking God and the Malaysian justice system for giving their family a just verdict. This was the first case in Malaysia where someone had been sentenced to death for school bullying. However, this was not the final verdict; the lawyers for the six defendants stated that they would appeal to the Federal Court of Malaysia that same day. In the verdict, Judge Hadaria described the crime as "extremely rare," and under Malaysian law, extremely rare cases are unlikely to change the verdict even after appealing to the Federal Court.

The missing laptop remains unaccounted for. Zulfarhan never admitted to stealing the computer until his last breath.