“They deserve second chances like any of us because they have served time in prison and undergone rehabilitation programmes and counselling,” UPSI counselling unit chief Fauziah Mohd Saad said in an interview with FMT.

In the case of Thaqif, Fauziah was of the opinion that it was the employer, and not the assistant warden, who should be held accountable for the boy’s death as employers were responsible for supervising their workers.

“Any employer who hires ex-convicts should provide them with guidelines and regulations on how to manage or punish the students,” she said.

“It was with good intentions that the employer hired the ex-convict, but the school should have taken certain measures to supervise him, not just let him do whatever he wanted.”

Fauziah also said she was aware that certain institutions did hire ex-convicts as wardens and she acknowledged that some of them had a tendency to behave in a rough manner.

However, she maintained that even in the case of Thaqif it was not right to point fingers until all the facts were known.

“We should not be judgmental as we do not know the real situation,” she said. “We do not know if the suspect had a history of mental problems.”

According to a statement posted on the Facebook page of the religious school Thaqif went to, the suspect was granted parole for good behaviour.

“If the prison director had said he had changed and was released early, can’t we, as members of the public, give him a second chance?” the Facebook article said.

The suspect is in remand until May 3. Police are investigating him under Section 302 of the Penal Code.