Warden may face causing hurt charge

KUALA LUMPUR: Police will look into the angle of causing hurt in the death of school student, Mohamad Thaqif Amin Mohd Ghaddafi (pix).
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said police will reclassify the case from murder to a lesser crime, Noor Rashid said the post-mortem results showed he died due to leptospirosis and other medical complications.
"We will have to change the charges from Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder to maybe causing harm or assault," he said.
He said police will push the case until it goes to court.
"We will propose to conduct an inquest into the death," he said.
He added the inquest will be held in an open forum so that the public are aware of the case.
"Investigations into the case should be concluded by this week," he said.
In KOTA TINGGI, the principal of Madrasah Tahfiz Al Jauhar (MTAJ), Mohammad Afdhaluddin Ismail, said the school management was relieved after reading media reports that Mohamad Thaqif had succumbed to leptospirosis (infection by rat urine), and not injuries from alleged abuse by an assistant warden in April.
During a press conference held at the school yesterday, he also showed CCTV recordings of the former assistant warden using a water hose to beat the foot of every student during a night gathering.
Mohammad Afdhaluddin said the school has an SOP on caning students, where only the principal is allowed to use the rotan.
"But I never use it. It is only used as a last resort. Nobody has a rotan, that is why the assistant warden used a water hose to cane the students.
"I only came to know about the caning on March 30, when Thaqif's mum came to see me and took him home.
"I didn't have a chance to give her a proper explanation."
Mohammad Afdhaluddin said the following day he reprimanded the assistant warden and told him that his duty was only to deal with emergency situations at night.
He said the man had worked as a cleaner at the school since early 2016 and was appointed as an assistant warden after nine months.