Jail and fine for detention centre security guard

SANDAKAN: A security guard at the Sandakan temporary detention centre was sentenced to one year in jail and fined RM10,000 by the Special Corruption Sessions Court here after she pleaded guilty to cheating a civil servant of RM3,000 on the pretext of releasing a detainee three years ago.

Judge Dean Wayne Daly also sentenced Jamilah Likabon, 43, to three months’ jail in default of the fine.

According to Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Michael Joimin, who read the facts of the case, Jamilah had persuaded Muhamad Zizal Jamaludin to hand over RM3,000 on the pretext of releasing Anna Malay Varona, a detainee at the centre.

She committed the offence on July 20, 2011 at the Modern Curry House restaurant, Prime Square, 4th Mile here.

Jamilah was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code which carries a sentence of between one and 10 years imprisonment and fine, upon conviction.

Earlier in the proceedings, Jamilah pleaded for a lesser sentence saying she was the sole bread winner in her family, responsible for a sickly mother and could not afford a lawyer as well.

Michael applied for the sentence to commensurate with the seriousness of the crime so that it would serve as a lesson to Jamilah, who had abused her position and tarnished the image of her department.

In handing down the sentence, Dean Wayne said although the court empathised with Jamilah’s situation, she had to nevertheless accept the consequences of her actions. — Bernama