BUTTERWORTH: Three detainees who were re-arrested after escaping from police custody last Jan 27 were yesterday sentenced to a total of 42 months’ jail each after they pleaded guilty to committing the offence and also for injuring four policemen.
Magistrate Muhammad Firdaus Abdul Wahab handed down the sentence after taking into account public interest and as a lesson for the accused.
The accused are Mohamad Farid Akhtar, 24, Mohd Shahrimi Mohd Noor, 28, and Mohamad Khairulnizam Abdul Rani, 26.
On the first four counts, the three men were charged with voluntarily causing hurt to deter policemen Mohd Nazzuwan Md Zain, Mohd Azizan Ahmad, Muhammad Sharifuddin Ali and T.K.
Mahendran, who accompanied the detainees from the Penang Prison to the court, from performing their duties.
They were charged with committing the offence before their escape at Jalan Susur Keluar Bagan Ajam, Lebuhraya Lingkaran Luar Butterworth here, at 9.45am last Jan 7.
They were sentenced t0 24 months’ jail for the offence, under Section 332 of the Penal Code.
On the fifth count, they were jointly charged with voluntarily escaping from police custody after being arrested for another offence.
They offence, under Section 224 of the Penal Code, was committed at the same place, time and date. They were sentenced to 18 months jail each for the offence.
However, Muhamamd Firdaus ordered that the jail sentence be served concurrently from the date of their arrest on Jan 13.
Meanwhile, the court also sentenced Mohamad Khairulnizam to another seven months’ jail for self-administration of drug at the Seberang Perai Utara police station on last Jan 13.
He was ordered to serve the sentence from the date of arrest on Jan 13.
Deputy public prosecutor Masnuraznim Abdul Malik prosecuted, while the three accused were represented by lawyer Y.Anbanathan. — Bernama