SFC officers seen in court yesterday with the five accused..
KUCHING: Five Indonesians were sentenced to a total of three months in jail and fined them RM25,000 in default two months’ jail for trespassing and extracting forest produce at Gunung Gading National Park.
Trisitrisno, Suheadi Uncang, Gilbertus Culo, Kenesius Oktavianus Ungge and Kir Santus each pleaded guilty to three charges framed under Section 26(a) and 26(i) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998, as well as Section 90(1) of the Forest Ordinance 2015.
According to the facts of the case, the accused, all in their late 20s, took jungle produce in the form of five logs and 40 layers of wooden boards totalling 13.4242 square metres. The offence was committed on Dec 11 at 2.37pm.
Sessions Court judge Marutin Pagan sentenced the five to one month in jail on the first charge under Section 26(a) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998.
On the second charge under Section 90(1) of the Forest Ordinance 2015, he sentenced them to a month’s jail and fine of RM25,000 in default two months’ imprisonment.
On the third charge framed under Section 26(i) of of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998, Judge Marutin sentenced the accused to one month in jail.
He also ordered for the jail sentences to run concurrently from the date of arrest.
In addition, the judge also ordered the five to pay the Sarawak government 10 times the amount of RM1,745.15 under Section 90(2) of the Forest Ordinance 2015.
They will also be referred to the Immigration Department for deportation upon the completion of their jail sentence.
In mitigation, the accused pleaded for leniency saying they had just started working in the area when they were arrested, and did not know they had committed a crime.
Prosecution was carried out by Hisyamudin Roslan from Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), while the accused were not represented by counsel.