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www.corpun.com : Archive : 2004 : MY Judicial Dec 2004

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MALAYSIA
Judicial CP - December 2004

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 8 December 2004

Man gets life for armed robbery

ALOR STAR: A 49-year-old self-employed man was sentenced to life imprisonment for armed robbery involving RM1.19mil in Pendang two years ago.

Sessions Court judge Ghazali Cha also ordered that Abdul Wahab Che Pa, from Kampung Keda in Sik, receive six strokes of the rotan after finding him guilty.

OFF TO JAIL: Abdul Wahab being led away from the Alor Star Sessions Court by a policeman after he was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday.

Abdul Wahab was charged on Feb 21 with three others with robbing Safeguards Corporation Bhd at 2.25pm on Jan 14, 2002, at the Petronas petrol station in Pendang while armed with a pistol and a pump gun.

However, the other three were released without their defence being called on Sept 5 this year.

Abdul Wahab, who was ordered to enter his defence, had chosen to remain silent.

Clad in a white T-shirt and grey long pants, Abdul Wahab was calm when sentence was delivered.

His wife and five of his 10 children were also seen waiting outside the courtroom to meet him.

Ghazali said the case was serious and that the accused had understood the sentence that he could face under the Firearms (Increased Penalty) Act.

He said that since Abdul Wahab had chosen to remain silent, the court had no choice but to deliver the sentence.

Corpun file 14715

Bernama Malaysian National News Agency, Kuala Lumpur, 8 December 2004

More Than 18,000 Illegal Immigrants Whipped

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- A total 18,607 illegal immigrants were whipped under an amendment to the Immigration Act introduced in 2002, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho said.

He said they were given either six lashes (five illegal immigrants), five (four), four (37), three (245), two (3,102) or one (15,214).

The number comprised 11,473 Indonesians, 2,786 Myanmars, 1,956 Filipinos, 708 Bangladeshis, 509 Indians and 1,175 other nationalities.

"Most were whipped for entering without valid documents but the women and men above years who were caught were spared," he told reporters at Parliament lobby, Wednesday.

Tan warned that illegal immigrants who refused the current amnesty to leave the country that they would be flushed out when the authorities launched a large-scale operation next month.

Malaysia offered illegal immigrants an amnesty from Oct 29 to Nov 14 prior to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri but it was extended at the request of Indonesia.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, now in Indonesia on an official visit, Wednesday announced that the amnesty for Indonesian illegal immigrants would be extended to Dec 31 this year.

Up to Dec 6, 120,004 illegal immigrants had left voluntarily.

"Unofficial estimates indicate there are still about one million illegal immigrants in the country. We want to ensure they go back to their country of origin until no one remains behind," Tan said.

"We are unhappy many have still not left...if they don't leave they will face the full might of the law."

He said the operation would cover urban as well as rural areas and plantations throughout the country.

"As such I urge employers not to take the risk and to send home their illegal workers before the end of December.

"If they want to come and work here, they should do so by following the proper procedures," he said.

He added that 112 cases of employers harbouring illegal workers had been brought to the courts.-- BERNAMA

Corpun file 14704

New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, 9 December 2004

12 years' jail, rotan for sex with minor

By P. Sharmini

SEREMBAN, Dec 8: A 26-year-old youth was sentenced to 12 years’ jail by the Sessions Court today and ordered to be given four strokes of the rotan for raping a minor.

Mohd Rafizam Mohd Saleem (pix), from Felda Pasoh in Batu Kikir, was accused of having consensual sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl in some bushes at 4th mile Jalan Pantai in Port Dickson, about 12am on Jan 27 and again about 2am the same day.

Rafizam chose to remain silent when asked to enter his defence.

Judge Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab said he found that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

On the other hand, the accused had chosen to remain silent when asked to enter his defence, and the defence had no witnesses to call.

Prosecuting officer Assistant Superintendent Khoo Leng Huat urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence as the case was of public importance.

Zaki sentenced the accused to 12 years’ jail and two strokes of the rotan for each offence, the sentences to run concurrently, beginning from the date of arrest on Jan 28.

In mitigation, counsel Lt Col (Rtd) Roseli Abdul Gani urged the court to impose a light sentence as this was the accused's first offence and that he had extended full co-operation to the police.

He also said there had been the element of consent, and no violence was reported in the crime.

Roseli later said he would be filing an appeal.

Corpun file 14763

Daily Express, Kota Kinabalu, 10 December 2004

Suhakam unhappy illegals being whipped

SUHAKAM hopes the Federal Government will consider a more appropriate punishment to replace whipping currently imposed on foreigners entering the country illegally.

Its Chairman of Complaint and Inquiries Working Group, Prof. Datuk Mohd Hamdan Adnan, claimed caning did not serve as a long-term deterrent to the illegals.

"Whipping, to me, simply does not solve the problem because people who are hungry and starving would not care about the pain from caning as they are survivors.

"The caning will not frighten or deter them from coming back as their respective countries cannot provide them a better life," he said.

Instead, Hamdan believed strict punishment should be imposed on employers who are willing to hire illegals.

"In fact, these employers are one of the main causes of the continuing presence of the transient population which is said to be taking away the rights and privileges of the locals. "A majority of these employers are committing such offence as these illegal immigrants are a cheap source of labour," he said.

Hamdan also urged the Government to enforce proactive action on any measures to curb problems caused by illegals such as using fake personal documents and falsification of vital documents to obtain Malaysian Ics.

He believed the Government should put into effect the measure of taking the illegal immigrants' thumbprints which had been announced two or three years ago.

"We all know that these illegals use different aliases each time they enter the country and Sabah. Therefore, the country needed to have a permanent measure or method to take their thumbprints so that the relevant authorities can know how many times they have come and left the country."

Dr Chong noted that five years ago, the Federal Task Force had suggested that every illegal immigrant's thumbprints must be taken when they were sent back so that the relevant enforcement authorities could detect them at the entry points.

However, the suggestion was yet to be enforced in Sabah.

Corpun file 14830

New Sabah Times, Kota Kinabalu, 24 December 2004

Court Beat

Syabu man gets seven years

KOTA KINABALU: An unemployed foreigner was sentenced to seven years in jail and ordered to be given ten strokes of the cane at the Sessions Court here yesterday after he was found guilty to possessing 45.70 grams of syabu.

Musa Abdul Rahim, 36, was charged with having the drug on September 29 at about 8pm at the roadside of Sepanggar Bay in Menggatal.

According to the facts of the case, a team of policemen from the Narcotics Department here stopped Musa at the said venue and following a body check, they found two plastic packets on the accused. The packets contained crystal-like substance, which the Chemistry Department layer confirmed as syabu.

He was charged under Section 39A(2) (r ) of the Dangerous Drug Act.

Meanwhile, at the Magistrate's Court, a 37-year-old Bajau was sentenced to six months imprisonment from after pleading guilty to impersonating as a police officer.

The court ordered his jail sentence to run from the date of his arrest.

Junaidi Gali, unemployed, was charged under Section 170 of the Penal Code, which carries an imprisonment of up to two years or a fine or both.

Corpun file 14843

New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, 25 December 2004

The measure of their lives is a prison cell

By Aniza Damis

[extract]

Sixty people are serving natural life sentences in Malaysian prisons, and more than half of these are foreigners. Of the 60 prisoners currently serving natural life sentences, 29 are Malaysian, 18 Filipino, 12 Indonesian and one Singaporean, Deputy Internal Security Minister Chia Kwang Chye told the New Straits Times.

Statistics, revealed for the first time, showed that the longest serving prisoner is a Singaporean, who was sentenced in 1978.

And the natural life sentence is not likely to be quashed soon.

In the four short years of this new millennium alone, nine people have been sentenced to natural life.

The most recent prisoner, a Malaysian, was sentenced in October.

Sentencing dates however, are not reflective of the true amount of time a person has been in prison, because it does not include the number of years in which a prisoner has to stay in remand during his trial.

A natural life sentence means that a prisoner is in jail for the rest of his natural life until death.

The only way out is if he is granted a pardon.

This sentence is different from the more commonly known "life" sentence, which is 20 years.

The "life" sentence is usually given a one-third remission, bringing it down to 14 years.

The list of prisoners, however, does not seem to include the 15 Al-Maunah members who were sentenced to life imprisonment on Dec 28, 2002.

Of the 60 listed, 15 are in Kajang Prison, nine in Sungai Buloh, seven in Taiping Prison, three in Alor Star, three in Penang, two in Johor Baru, 13 in Kota Kinabalu, six in Tawau, and two in Sandakan.

Forty-three of these had additional sentences of six strokes of the rotan, one prisoner had eight strokes, four had 10 strokes and one had twelve strokes.

Eleven prisoners were not given the caning penalty.

Chia said not all natural life prisoners see their end in prison. In the last 10 years, 43 natural life prisoners have received pardons.

But, the granting of pardons has been sporadic.

The largest number of pardons granted in any one year was in 1999, when nine prisoners were pardoned.

In 2003, no one was pardoned, and this year, so far, only one person has received a pardon.

Pardons are the prerogative of the State Ruler in which the crime was committed.

Prisoners can appeal for a pardon personally, or an application can be sent through the Prison Department's quadrennial reports review, which is prepared and sent to the State pardons board once every four years.

This request for pardon is vetted by the State Pardons Board, which then makes its recommendations to the Sultan or Governor.

The ruler then decides whether or not to pardon the prisoner.

The majority of the prisoners — 56 in all — were imprisoned under the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971, while another four received natural life as a reduced sentence.

These four — two under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and two for murder under the Penal Code — were initially sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted to natural life, Chia said.

...........

Corpun file 14903

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 30 December 2004

Ex-con sent back to jail for snatch theft

KUALA LUMPUR: A trader with seven previous convictions was sentenced to 20 months in jail and given five strokes of the rotan by a magistrate's court here for snatching the handbag of a Thai woman.

Magistrate Normazaida Ahmad Narihan yesterday ordered Mohamed Jaafar Baharom to serve his sentence from the date of his arrest on Jan 2 and undergo a year's police supervision upon his release.

Mohamed Jaafar, 31, of Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, admitted to snatching a RM200 handbag containing RM10 and a Citibank credit card from Siripon Abell, 34, in front of Beach Club, Jalan Dang Wangi, here on Jan 2.

He committed the offence with Mohamed Fadzal Mohamed Isa, 27, who was jailed 30 months by the same court on Jan 19. Mohamed Jaafar claimed trial then but changed his plea today.

The offence under Section 379 of the Penal Code carries a maximum seven years' jail term or a fine, or both, upon conviction.

Mohamed Jaafar had previously been jailed and whipped for committing theft, housebreaking, retaining stolen property and armed robbery between 1992 and 2000. – Bernama

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