KOTA KINABALU: The Magistrate’s Court yesterday fined a local businessman a total of RM1,025 for committing mischief and uttering bad words at an electrical shop here three months ago.
Magistrate Norhamizah Shaiffuddin imposed the fine on Chin Chuan Soong, 53, after the latter pleaded guilty to both offences.
Chin was fined RM1,000 in default one month’s jail for the first charge of committing mischief which caused losses amounting to RM400 at the Sen Q store on the ground floor of Karamunsing shopping complex here about 3.30pm on July 3.
He was convicted under Section 427 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of up to two years or a fine or both on conviction.
For the second charge of uttering bad words to the employees of the shop at the same time and place, he received another RM25 fine in default one day’s jail.
The offence under Section 8 (1) (e) of the Minor Offence Ordinance provides for a fine not exceeding RM25 on conviction.
Earlier in pleading for leniency, the unrepresented accused told the court that he went to the shop to see its manager but the latter did not turn up although he had waited for about 10 minutes.
As a result, he said he damaged several items in the shop.
He claimed that he became angry as the staff atf the store talked bad about his electrical goods at his shop in Centre Point shopping complex.
Prosecuting officer Inspector Azaman Hamat however urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence on the accused taking into consideration that the incident occurred at a popular spot among the public and that the incident was also uploaded on Youtube.
The facts of the case stated that a promoter lodged a police report on the same day about 7.13pm stating that a man came to the shop and wanted to see the manager.
As the manager was not around, the accused became angry before he went amok by damaging several items in the shop such as chairs, table, a display wooden shelf and a computer’s keyboard.
The accused also uttered bad words to the complainant and other staff of the shop.
The complainant and the staff just kept quiet as they were scared of the action of the accused.
The complainant said that he was not sure of the cause of the incident but the accused claimed the staff of the shop talked bad about his electrical goods at his shop.
On July 9, the accused came to the Kota Kinabalu police station and surrendered himself to the police.
During investigation, he admitted his wrongdoings.