KOTA KINABALU: The Magistrate’s Court here has deferred to May 5 this year the case of a local self-employed man charged with threatening his wife after she failed to pick up his calls more than 100 times.
Magistrate Zaiton Anuar adjourned the case of Eusebius Francis, 30, after the prosecution informed the court that the wife, who wishes to withdraw her report against the accused, was absent yesterday.
Prosecuting officer Inspector Lim Swee Beng informed the court that the instruction was for the wife of the accused to be present in court to tell the judge that she wanted to withdraw her report.
However, Lim said no one came to see him about this case and hence he applied for another mention date for this case.
The accused had pleaded guilty to making a verbal threat to his 25-year-old wife through a Short Messaging Service (SMS) from a department at the Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) building here at 10.30am on April 15.
The undefended Eusebius admitted sending an SMS to his wife with the words: “Saya kasi habis kredit saya walaupun kau tidak angkat, tapi selepas habis kredit saya, saya terpaksa cari kau sampai dapat dan kita mati sama-sama ok. Kau tunggu saya kasi hancur kereta kau, kalau ko pergi juga, saya pergi teriak kau punya pengarah. Cubalah kau cabar saya” (I will call you until I finish my phone’s credit even though you did not pick up my calls, then I will find you until I get you and after that we die together ok. You wait I will smash your car, If you still want to go, I go and yell at your director, try and test me).
The offence for criminal intimidation framed under Section 506 of the Penal Code is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years or with fine or both upon conviction.
It was revealed during the proceedings that the accused had sent such SMS to his wife because he was emotionally upset after calling for more than 100 times but his wife did not pick up those calls.
According to the facts of the case, the accused had gone to his wife’s office but she refused to meet him because she felt apprehensive in view of their misunderstanding.
The accused had alleged that his wife was having an affair with another man and had wanted to inform the person in charge of his wife (at work) that he (the accused) did not allow his wife to join any sports practice and to work overtime.
The accused then called his wife but she did not answer the calls. He then sent that SMS to her. They were reportedly having some marriage problem since 2012.
The accused is currently released on RM2,000 bail with two local sureties pending disposal of the case.
In a separate case, local Taib Balarie, 44, was fined RM25, in default, two days’ jail by the same court for threatening a businesswoman.
The accused had pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 8 (1) (e) of the Minor Offences Ordinance which carries a maximum fine of RM25 upon conviction.
The accused had threatened the 23-year-old woman at Jalan Kurol Melangi at Kampung Likas here on April 18 by uttering the following words: “Kalau kau mahu kita bertetak” (If you want we can start chopping each other).