KOTA KINABALU: Nine Filipinos, including a son of the late Sultan Datu Esmail Kiram cum Chief of Staff of Royal Sulu Force (RSF), were sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court here for separate charges of waging war against the King.
Justice Stephen Chung imposed the sentence on Datu Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, Atik Hussin Abu Bakar, Basad H. Manuel, Ismail Hj Yassin, Virgilio Nemar Patulada @ Mohammad Alam Patulada, Salib Akhmad Emali, Al Wazir Osman @ Abdul, Tani Lahad Dani and Julham Rashid when their cases came up for sentencing yesterday.
On Monday, the judge found the nine accused persons guilty of their charges framed under Section 121 of the Penal Code which provides for the mandatory death sentence or life imprisonment, upon conviction.
Upon hearing mitigations from the accused persons’ counsel as well as reply from the prosecution, the judge stood down the court hearing for almost two hours which started from 10.40am and hearing resumed about 12.30pm.
In deciding the sentence on the accused persons, the judge had taken into account among others the accused persons’ roles of involvement, penalty prescribed, mitigations and also security cases submitted by parties.
For life imprisonment sentence, the court held that it is adequate as there was no direct involvement any of them and there were no evidence of any of them to pull the triggers in changing fires, kill in cold blood, involved in skirmishes and injuring people.
The accused persons were seen calm when hearing their sentences and some bowed their heads.
Meanwhile, the court jailed Datu Amirbahar, Salib, Al Wazir, Tani and Julham for another 18 years while Timhar Hadir and Malaysian Abd Hadi Mawan received 15 years’ jail after finding them guilty of being a member of the Sulu gunmen.
The court then sentenced the accused, who pleaded guilty to committing a similar offence, namely Atik Hussin, Basad, Ismail, Virgilio, Lin Mad Salleh, Holand Kalbi and Aiman Radie to 13 years in jail.
Datu Amirbahar, Atik Hussin, Basad, Ismail, Virgilio, Salib, Al Wazir, Tani and Julham were ordered to serve their jail terms concurrently with their life imprisonment and to take effect from their respective dates of arrests.
Their charges were framed under Section 130KA of the same Code which is punishable by life imprisonment and also liable to a fine, upon conviction.
The only woman accused, Norhaida Ibnahi, was jailed for 10 years after the court found her guilty of giving protection to her cousin Datu Amirbahar at her house. In sentencing her, the court had taken into consideration her role of involvement, mitigation, had been in Sabah for 30 years, she is not a threat to Sabah and has no previous conviction.
The judge also took note that she provided shelter to Datu Amirbahar because they are relatives.
She was convicted under Section 130K of the Penal Code which provides for life imprisonment and also liable to a fine, or with a jail term of up to 20 years or with a fine, upon conviction.
Two Malaysians, Pabblo Alie and a son of ‘Mat Bom’ Mohamad Ali Ahmad were sentenced to 15 years’ jail after they admitted to separate charges of soliciting property for the benefit of the Sulu gunmen and providing food to the gunmen, respectively.
The charge against Pabblo, who was represented by counsel Putli Noor Asikin Datu Gulam, was framed under Section 130G (c) of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum jail of 30 years and also liable to a fine while the charge against Mohamad Ali was under Section 130J (1) (a) of the same Code which is punishable by life imprisonment or for a term of up to 30 years or with a fine and shall also be liable to forfeiture of any property used in connection with the commission of the offence.
Norhaida, Pabblo and Mohamad Ali were also ordered to serve their jail sentences from the date of their arrests.
The 18 accused persons were apprehended during separate operations throughout Ops Sulu (later known as Ops Daulat) at several places in Lahad Datu, Semporna, Kunak and Sandakan between February 12 and April 10, 2013.
On July 25 this year, the court had acquitted and discharged Filipino Basil Samiul, who was charged with giving support to the Sulu gunmen, after his defence was called as the court ruled that Basil had cast doubt on the prosecution’s case.
On February 5 this year, Datu Amirbahar, Atik Hussin, Salib, Al Wazir, Tani, Julham, Lin, Basad, Holand, Ismail, Virgilio, Timhar, Abd Hadi, Aiman, Norhaida, Pabblo, Mohamad Ali and Habil Suhaili were ordered to enter their defence on their said charges after the judge held that the prosecution had made out a prima facie case against all of them.
However, Habil had died due to asthma on April 23, 2016.
Also on February 5, 2016, the judge had freed Abd Hadi, who was defended by counsel Abdul Ghani Zelika, from his charge of waging war against the King while charges against Pabblo and Mohamad Ali were amended to soliciting property for the benefit of the Sulu gunmen and giving support to the gunmen from their original charges of waging war against the King and being members of the Sulu gunmen, respectively.
Then on the same day, the court had acquitted and discharged 11 Philippine nationals, namely Basil, Kadir Uyung, Masir Aidin, Anwar Salib Akhmad, Binhar Salib Akhmad, Rijmal Salleh, Abdul Majil Jubin, Rizman Gulan, Totoh Hismullah, Saidili Jaharul and Dani Ismail from their separate charges of waging war against Yang di-Pertuan Agong and being members of the Sulu gunmen and another Filipino, Lating Tiong, was also freed from a charge of attempting to be a member of the Sulu gunmen.
The trial judge held that the prosecution had failed to make out a prima facie case against them but ordered the 11 men with no valid travel documents to be referred to the Immigration Department for deportation.
The Lahad Datu intrusion trial took a new twist when on February 23 this year, Atik Hussin, Lin, Holand, Aiman, Basad, Virgilio and Ismail had pleaded guilty to each of the charges of being members of the group and on February 24, another two accused, namely Mohamad Ali and Pabblo had also admitted to their separate amended charges.
Deputy public prosecutors Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar and Datuk Jamil Aripin acted for the prosecution while Philippines Government-assigned counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan, who represented the 27 Philippines nationals was assisted by counsel James Tsai, Stella Simon, Majnah Abdillah, Zaleha Mohd Yusof Pan, Zakaria Ahmad Kreah and Teressa Sirri; counsel Ram Singh acted for Mohamad Ali and assisted by counsel Kamarudin Mohmad Chinki, YS Lo and Timothy Daut.
The trial commenced on January 6, 2014 with the prosecution calling 165 witnesses, including seven protected witnesses.
The trial was held at a hall doubled as an open court at the Kepayan prisons here under tight security checks by police and prison personnel.
When met after the court’s decision, Sivananthan and Ram told reporters that their clients would file an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Sivananthan also expressed gratitude that his clients were spared from the death sentence.