JAIL, FINE FOR ILLEGAL WILDLIFE POSSESSION
Senior citizen faces longer prison term if he fails to pay RM206,000 in fines
A66-YEAR-OLD man was sentenced to a year in jail and fined a total of RM206,000 for illegal possession of protected wildlife.
The accused, Chung En Kin, faces an additional seven months in prison if he fails to pay the fines.
Chung had, on April 27, been found guilty of committing the offences at a jewellery shop in Kota Belud at 2.50pm on April 18, 2019.
On the first count, Chung was sentenced to a year’s jail and fined RM150,000, in default of a one-year imprisonment for possessing 36.10kg of meat from the banteng (Bos javanicus), also known as tembadau.
The banteng, a species of cattle, is listed as a fully protected animal under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.
Possession of a banteng is illegal under the law except with a written permission from a minister.
The offence under Section 41(1) of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 and punishable under Section 41(4)(a) of the same carries a fine of between RM50,000 and RM250,000, or a jail term of between a month and five years, upon conviction.
On the second count, Chung was fined RM19,000 in default of three months’ jail for possessing the carcasses of five large flying foxes (Petropus vampyrus).
For the third count, he was fined RM37,000 in default of five months’ jail for possessing 4.8kg of sambar deer (Cervus unicolor) meat, its four legs weighing 3.4kg and one horn.
The second and third charges fall under Section 41(2), punishable under Section 41(4)(c) of the same enactment.
The punishment carries a fine of RM30,000 or three years’ jail or both, upon conviction.
Sessions Court judge Elsie Primus meted out the sentence on Chung when the case was brought up for sentencing yesterday pending the species victim impact statement.
In her judgment, Elsie, among other things, held that the offence that involved wildlife such as banteng was serious as it was a fully protected species.
A lesson, she said, must be imparted upon the accused as well as the public at large.
The court, however, granted Chung’s application for a stay of execution pending an appeal to the High Court, with an additional bail sum of RM20,000 (totalling RM40,000) with the same sureties given.
Chung was also ordered to report to the nearest police station twice a month.
The judge said the notice of appeal should be filed on or before Monday, failing which the stay of execution would be revoked.