Owner gets bail; skipper jailed
Published on: Sunday, February 05, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The local owner and skipper of the catamaran which capsized near Pulau Mengalum last week were charged with knowingly overloading the vessel with tourists, leading to three deaths with six more missing to date.Boat owner Leong Vin Jee, 44, and Sharezza Salian, 25, who arrived at the court compound at 9am were brought before Sessions Court Judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamad.No plea was taken from Leong pending the availability of a Chinese interpreter as he told the court he did not understand some of the words stated in the charge read to him.ADVERTISEMENT Ainul set Feb. 6 this year for re-mention and released Leong on bail of RM5,000 in a local surety and ordered him to report to the Tanjung Aru police station once every two weeks.Sharezza, however, pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to six months' jail.Leong and Sharezza were charged with knowingly overloading the catamaran with tourists which endangered the lives of the passengers at 9.15am on Jan. 28 at the jetty in Lorong Mustapha Tuah in Kg Tanjung Aru Lama, here. ADVERTISEMENT The offence under Section 282 of the Penal Code carries a jail term of up to six months, or a fine of up to RM2,000, or both on conviction.Earlier, counsel Edward Paul who represented Leong asked for a lower bail saying his client is a local, married with two children and that there was no reason for him to abscond.
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Deputy Public Prosecutor Aida Fatimah Datuk Abd Jabar proposed bail of RM10,000 for Leong. Sharezza who was not represented asked for a light sentence saying he was poor. He informed the court that he had previously worked in Kuala Lumpur but came back here to help his parents.In reply, Aida asked for a maximum sentence to be imposed on Sharezza on the grounds that it was a case of public interest which outweighed his interest."A maximum sentence is to deter others especially those boat operators and workers from operating against what had been stated in their licence. "They should not be driven by profits that they gain, by committing such offence especially in this case which involves tourists from another country."Regardless the tourists were locals or from other countries, boat operators have the responsibility to make sure the tourists are safe when boarding their boat."The greed and profit driven by the accused person in this case had allowed such incident to happen, thus it has had a negative impact on the tourism industry and the relevant authorities," she said.She added that although the maximum sentence is six months' jail and a fine of RM2,000, that was the beginning to show others that the court is serious when it involves others' lives.The facts of the case stated that on Jan. 29 this year at 6.10pm, the police received information from the Malaysian Emergency Response System (MERS) that 23 people on board a catamaran which had capsized were found near Pulau Tiga, three of them dead.On Jan 30 this year, three persons were arrested and one of them was Sharezza. Investigation revealed that Sharezza who was the skipper of catamaran which capsized at the said area, was ferrying too many passengers.The boat licence stated that the boat could only bring 12 passengers but Sharezza had brought 28 people at that time.On Jan. 28 this year, the catamaran with 31 people on board including 28 tourists from China and three crew headed for Pulau Mengalun but sank after departing from an undesignated jetty in Kg Tanjung Aru, here.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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The boat tragedy claimed the lives of three tourists from China with six still unaccounted for. The search for five tourists and a crew is still ongoing.