High Court judge Suzana Said ordered DQI and MAIWP to pay bereavement damages of RM10,000 to each next of kin of the victims, as well as exemplary damages totalling RM500,000 to be distributed among the plaintiffs.

She also ordered the defendants to pay nominal damages of RM30,000 to each next of kin, as well as RM20,000 in costs to each plaintiff.

However, Suzana rejected the plaintiffs’ claim to public donations, said to amount to between RM8 million and RM10 million, after finding that they had failed to prove the monies were set aside for the victims’ next of kin.

Lawyer Mohaji Selamat, who represented the plaintiffs, said his clients would file an appeal.

“The families are dissatisfied because the public donations, which totalled nearly RM10 million, were not disbursed to them.

“We will file an appeal to the Court of Appeal,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, counsel for DQI and MAIWP, Ahmad Zaharil Muhaiyar, said his clients were relieved by the High Court’s decision to reject the plaintiffs’ claim to the donations, which he said had been deposited into DQI’s account.

Zaharil said the defendants had spent nine years defending their position.

“Today, it has been proven that not a single sen of the donations was misused,” he said.

The early-morning fire on Sept 14, 2017, which claimed 23 lives at the centre in Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, sparked public outrage over unregulated religious schools.

Two teenagers were subsequently charged with murder. One was convicted, while the other was acquitted and discharged after the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case.