The 15-year-old was charged at the magistrates’ court in Ayer Keroh last year for murdering his nine-year-old brother at their Kampung Bukit Piatu home in July.

Justice Radzi Abdul Hamid said there was no dispute that the boy is suffering from schizophrenia, and needed medical care and attention.

He said the magistrate had initially sent the teenager to hospital for observation, but that during a subsequent case management on Dec 26 last year, the court ordered that he be detained at Sungai Udang Prison following an “observation from the bench”.

“The magistrate fell into error when she formed an opinion about the detainee’s condition based on a superficial observation in court and the lawyer’s statement that he (the teenager) was responding positively to treatment.

“Whether or not he is fit to be taken out from the hospital is not a matter to be decided merely based on a superficial observation, but should be based on an expert’s assessment,” Radzi said when setting aside the order to remand the boy in prison.

The court said the magistrate did not have the benefit of reading the psychiatrist’s report on the teenager, which recommended that he be continuously monitored at the hospital for side effects from his medication.

Radzi also said the Child Act stipulates that a child detained pending trial should be sent to detention centres gazetted under the law.

“Placing a child in prison would only expose the child to criminal contamination, which will be detrimental to his emotional and moral growth.

“Every opportunity should be given, where permitted by law, for the child to be placed in an environment that will encourage healing of the mind, spirit and body, and to be protected from harsh and harmful conditions that will only turn them into hardened delinquents and eventually criminals,” said Radzi.