Six more months in jail for ex-DO

Court grants appeal for longer sentence

PUTRAJAYA: A former district officer convicted of trying to sexually assault an administrative assistant has been ordered by a Court of Appeal here to serve six more months in jail.

A three-man panel unanimously decided that former central Seberang Prai district officer Roslan Yahaya (pic), 57, must serve 12 months in jail instead of the initial six-month sentence handed down by a magistrate’s court in Penang.

He was convicted by a Bukit Mertajam magistrate’s court on April 1, 2016, of using criminal force with the intention to outrage the modesty of the then 29-year-old victim who worked at his office.

The offence was committed between 11am and 1.10pm at the Land and District Office in Jalan Betek, Sungai Rambai in Bukit Mertajam on April 26, 2010.

He was sentenced to six months’ jail and a RM2,000 fine.

The prosecution appealed against the sentence, but a George Town High Court upheld the lower court’s sentence.

The prosecution then appealed to the Court of Appeal.

In allowing the appeal, Court of Appeal judge Justice Mohtarudin Baki, who led the panel, said there was merit in the prosecution’s appeal.

“The magistrate’s sentence (both imprisonment and fine) will be set aside and replaced with 12 months’ imprisonment.

“As the respondent has served the initial six months in jail, he has to serve another six months starting today,” he said, adding that the RM2,000 fine would be returned to Roslan.

Justice Mohtarudin said Roslan had committed a serious offence and the court needed to give a clear message to society.

Justices Yaacob Md Sam and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil also sat on the panel.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Adam Mohamed argued that the original sentence did not take into consideration public interest.

Lawyer Muhammad Nor Izzat Nordin argued that the magistrate’s court had considered the fact that Roslan was fired from his job and lost his pension.

Roslan, who was present in court yesterday, is currently serving a three-year jail sentence for bribery related to the case.

In 2015, a Butterworth Sessions Court found him guilty of giving RM30,000 to the victim’s husband as an inducement for her to retract the sexual harassment accusations against him.

Roslan was also fined RM150,000 in default 12 months’ jail for the offence.