WONG SOON HENG v Pendakwa Raya

05rj-5-03-2025j Federal Court (Mahkamah Persekutuan) 19 April 2026 • 05(RJ)-5-03/2025(J)

Catchwords

Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 – Child sentence under Section 97(2) of the Child Act 2001- "detained in prison during the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) or Ruler"- does not violate Article 5 because the child offender is convicted after the due process of a trial and at its conclusion, the sentence passed is in accordance with a validly passed law- Doctrine of reasonable classification- doctrine of proportionality-ultimate objective was to place child offenders in a category of their own so as to not suffer the extreme fate of adult offenders with the view to being given an opportunity at rehabilitation and their eventual re-integration back into society- reasonable nexus that existed between the discrimination and that legislative aim sought to be achieved-no violation or fundamental breach of Article 8-alternative remedies provided for under the law for the Applicants to be dealt with according to Section 97(4) of the Child Act 2001, Regulation 54 and 113 of the Prison Regulations 2000 read together with power of pardon under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution-remedy afforded exclusively to the Applicants via section 97(5) of the Child Act 2001 provides the opportunity for them to be released earlier from detention, by virtue of the yearly recommendation by the Board of Visiting Justices. This opportunity is not afforded to a convict of the age of majority- Section 2 and Section 3 of Act 847 makes in clear that the pre-condition for the application under Section 3 is that the person must be on death row at the date of enforcement of Act 847- Applicants’ squarely outside the purview of Act 847

Judges (5)

Azizah binti Haji Nawawi Coram Che Mohd Ruzima bin Ghazali Coram Collin Lawrence Sequerah Delivered Rhodzariah binti Bujang Coram Wan Ahmad Farid bin Wan Salleh Coram

Parties (2)

Pendakwa Raya Respondent Wong Soon Heng Appellant

Judgment

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Source: eJudgment (05rj-5-03-2025j)