KOTA KINABALU: A serviceman was sentenced to a year in prison by the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday for hitting his wife.
Magistrate Cindy Mc Juce Balitus passed the sentence to Almat Rahmat, 39, who was charged with beating his 40-year-old wife on June 1, at 9am on the roadside of Jalan Mengkabong, Tuaran.
The offence was framed under Section 323 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 326A of the same Code, which carries a maximum jail of two years, or a fine of up to RM4,000 or both.
Based on the facts of the case, the accused was said to have punched his wife on her eye, head and shoulder, and slapped her across the face numerous times, resulting in the latter sustaining swelling on the said body parts.
It was believed that the accused was involved in drugs and alcohol.
Such incident was said to have happened more than once, and led to the victim feeling depressed, worried for her safety and lodging a police report on June 3.
During mitigation, the accused asked for a lighter sentence on the basis that his children are still small and he was not in his right mind when the incident happened. He also said that he and his wife had reconciled since the incident.
Further, the accused said that his wife had wanted to withdraw the case but had not done so ‘to teach him a lesson.’
Prosecuting officer Inspector Isfandiar Jasdi asked the court to impose the maximum sentence on the accused.
In a separate case, Cindy fixed August 1 for the case management of Dahlan Jaiman who was charged with stealing a boat and its engine.
Dahlan with five friends who are still at large, were charged with stealing an 18-foot long fibre glass boat, a 30HP Yamaha engine and two 15HP engines at 5.45am on July 13 at the jetty of Sekolah Kebangsaan Penimbawan Tuaran.
The offence was framed under Section 379 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail sentence of seven years, or fine, or both, upon conviction.
Dahlan was not granted bail.