Clerk jailed, one stroke for cheating

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here yesterday sentenced a clerk of the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex to 12 months in prison and one stroke of the rotan for cheating a woman in 2015.

Judge Datuk Mohd Sofian Abd Razak meted out the sentence on Shahnaz Khan Kamarzaman, 37, after allowing the prosecution’s appeal against a Magistrate’s Court’s decision to acquit and discharge him of the charge.

He ruled that the defence had failed to cast any reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case and that the respondent’s evidence was a mere denial and inconsistent.

Mohd Sofian said the Magistrate’s Court in acquitting Shahnaz Khan on Feb 23, 2017 had also failed to assess the evidence submitted in the case; he said the prosecution had succeeded in proving a prima facie case against the respondent.

Nevertheless, the court granted a stay of execution of the sentence applied by counsel P.G Cyril and Farhan Read, pending an appeal to the Court of Appeal, and set the bail at RM3,000 in one surety.

The respondent was also ordered to report to the nearest police station every three weeks pending disposal of the case.

Earlier in mitigation, Farhan said it was his client’s first offence. However, deputy public prosecutor Nur Hafizah Rajuni asked the court to impose an appropriate sentence considering the seriousness of the offence. On July 15, 2015, Shahnaz Khan pleaded not guilty to a charge of cheating Che Su Abdullah, 61, by misleading the victim to believe that he could help her to submit the RM4,000 fine imposed on the victim’s son-in-law for a drug offence to the court’s finance division. - Bernama