Kota Kinabalu: A policeman was jailed a total of four years and fined RM35,000 for asking and accepting bribes from a woman to not take action against a man having protected animals without a permit.
Sessions Court Judge Abu Bakar Manat meted out the sentence to Corporal Donni @ Dainel Tinili after ruling that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt against Donni, Thursday.
On the first count, Donni was jailed two years and fined RM25,000 in default four months’ jail for asking RM5,000 bribe from Koyoh Majungkat as an inducement not to take action against Jupilin Mojungkat who had in possession protected animals under Section 41 (1) of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.
The offence took place on Aug 21, 2016 at 5am at the central lockup in Kota Kinabalu Police Headquarters, here.
The offence, under Section 16(a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24 of the same Act, carries a jail term of up to 20 years, and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe received or RM10,000, whichever is higher, on conviction.
On the second count, he was sentenced to two years’ jail and fined another RM10,000 or spend two months’ jail for accepting RM2,000 bribe from Koyoh for the same purpose at 1pm on Aug 22, 2016 at Taman City Park, near the old court building, here.
The court ordered Donni to serve the jail sentence concurrently from the date of his conviction.
However, Donni managed to stay execution of the sentence pending appeal against the decision to the High Court. The court ordered him to add another RM2,000 bail as condition for the stay.
During mitigation, counsel Adam George Aludah, asked for a lenient sentence saying that Donni was with the Malaysian Royal Police (PDRM) since 1997.
Adam submitted that due to his case, Donnie was suspended from his job and that it was his first offence.
He also informed the court that Donni has two children, a wife and elderly parents to look after.
MACC Deputy Public Prosecutor Nartiah F. M Sambatan urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on the grounds that Donni had committed a serious offence which had tarnished the image of PDRM.
She said Donni had been in PDRM for 25 years and attached to the Central lockup here to take care of the detainees and prisoners.
“As a policeman who had served for a long time, Donni should know the laws and the consequences if he breached it. However, he had breached the trust given to him by PDRM by committing crime.
“His act had also tarnished PDRM’s image and lost the trust of the community.
“In this case, Donni had manipulated a mother who was from the rural area by asking and accepting bribe from her,” said Nartiah.
She added that the court should also consider the rampancy of such cases.
Twenty-five prosecution and one defence witnesses had been called during the hearing.
