The boy, now 20 years old, had asked the Federal Court to restore the Court of Appeal's decision which ordered his release on July 25, 2007, after declaring that Section 97 (2) of the Act, which provides the power to detain a minor convicted of murder at the pleasure of the Ruler, was unconstitutional.

The Federal Court today heard the boy's application to review its decision, delivered on Oct 23, 2007, which overturned the Court of Appeal's order.

Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria and Federal Court judges Datuk Seri S.Augustine Paul and Datuk Wira Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff unanimously ruled that this was not a rare and exceptional case which warranted the apex court to invoke its inherent power to review its previous ruling under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995.

Justice Arifin said the arguments put foward by the boy's counsel, Karpal Singh, on the doctrine of separation of powers had already been raised and considered by an earlier panel of the Federal Court.

In 2003, the High Court ordered the boy to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong after convicting him of stabbing his tuition teacher's 11-year-old daughter 24 times at her house in Taman Sri Rampai in Wangsa Maju between 3.30pm and 4.30pm on May 30 2002.

He was 12 years old when he committed the offence.

The case caused an uproar in 2007 when the then Court of Appeal judge, Datuk Gopal Sri Ram (now Federal Court judge), in a landmark decision, ruled that section 92 (2) of the Child Act was unconstitutional as it gave the power to the executive to sentence a child convicted of murder.

He said that it went against the doctrine of separation of powers as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

Sri Ram had held that the courts must have the exclusive authority to find a person guilty of murder and then impose a penalty, and it could not merely convict a person but leave the responsibility of sentencing to the king, the rulers or governors who acted on the advice of the executive.

Sri Ram upheld the conviction, saying that there was "abundant" evidence against the boy but set him free after holding that there was no law that prescribed a sentence for a child convicted of murder.

In his submission today, Karpal Singh said the Federal Court ought to invoke its jurisdiction to review the case because there were differing opinions by the government and the judiciary on the doctrine of separation of powers.

Deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin urged the court to reject the review application as she contended there was no procedural misdirection or injustice in this case that warranted the apex court to exercise its inherent jurisdiction to review the case. - Bernama