KOTA KINABALU: The appeal by two illegal immigrants from India for the whipping sentence imposed on them to be set aside backfired when the High Court here enhanced it from one stroke to two yesterday.
Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum however upheld the four-month jail sentence on Rajesh Khana Rasangan, 27, and Sagubar Sathiq Sikkhantar, 25.
The two men had appealed through their counsel Amli Nohin to have the one stroke of the cane quashed.
Malanjum held that there was no merit in the arguments as the appellants had entered Sabah without any valid travel document which was an offence.
“Having heard the appeal, I’m of the view that the four months’ imprisonment should be maintained. However, to send a clear message to would-be offenders, I am enhancing their whipping from one to two lashes of the cane,” he ruled.
The two Indians who claimed to enter Sabah on September 2 this year was caught several days after that on September 21 at an area in Sinsuran here for failing to produce any legal documentation to enter the State.
They had pleaded guilty to each of their charges under Section 6 (1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1956/63 in the Sessions Court here on October 18 which then sentenced them to four months’ jail plus one whipping.
The indictment provides for a fine of not exceeding RM10,000 or a jail term of up to five years, or both, and with whipping of not more than six strokes upon conviction.
They were also ordered to be referred to the Immigration Department after serving their sentences for further action.
In a separate case, a cheating case involving a 50-year-old man from Ipoh, Perak, was adjourned to January 14 next year.
Malanjum put off the case of Wong Shien Hing, 50, in order for all his cheating cases to be heard together.
For this case, the undefended Wong was put on three years of good behaviour bond by the subordinate court here for cheating a 23-year-old student into believing that he could assist him to get a car and inducing the victim to give him RM3,000 in cash at a car shop at Api-Api Center here on April 30.
The subordinate court ordered him to be placed under a RM5,000 bond with three local sureties.
Wong had pleaded guilty to a charge framed under Section 420 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail of 10 years and also liable to a fine and whipping, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Uma Devi Balasubramaniam appeared for the prosecution.