Kota Kinabalu: Two men were fined by the Magistrate’s Court here on separate charges of committing mischief. Thomas Lai and Chew Vui Kian pleaded guilty separately before Magistrates Dzul Elmy Yunus and Marilyn Kelvin to committing the offence under Section 427 of the Penal Code.
Lai was jailed four weeks and fined RM1,000 or two month’s jail for damaging the driver’s side window of a Toyota Land Cruiser with a knife at 9.40am, on July 17, at Taman Megarial, Luyang.
Chew was fined RM1,200 or two months’ jail for smashing the glass door of the Good Massage premises at Bataras Hypermarket, Inanam, using a ring spanner at 8.12pm, on July 19, causing RM350 in losses to the owner, Winsal Mursidi.
In Lai’s case, the court heard from the prosecution that the accused committed the offence on the vehicle after being dissatisfied with a court order delivered by the complainant’s lawyer, requiring him to vacate a house.
Lai approached the vehicle with a knife and stabbed its driver-side window, causing damage of about RM1,000.
Unrepresented, Lai requested to be allowed, only to pay a fine saying that he was suffering from stage four nasal cancer, adding that the complainant had come to take back the house.
The magistrate told Lai that because there was a court order for the complainant to take the house, he should have challenged it through legal means by hiring a lawyer instead of using a weapon.
Lai said he was uneducated and did not know what to do, and claimed the complainant knew how to lodge a police report and had often threatened him before, but he never reported it.
The prosecution urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, saying Lai had used a dangerous weapon to intimidate the victim, causing damage and psychological distress.
When delivering the sentence, the Magistrate said that, despite Lai’s illness and age, using a knife was a serious offence that could have led to more severe consequences.
The Magistrate said the court viewed the matter seriously, stressing that even if there was a dispute over the house, Lai should have sought legal redress instead of taking the law into his own hands, especially by using a sharp and dangerous weapon.
Meanwhile, in Chew’s case, the facts of the case presented by the prosecution stated that Chew smashed the glass door of the shop after arguing with his ex-girlfriend, who owns a shop near the complainant’s shop.
She informed the complainant, who then lodged a police report. Chew was arrested the next day, and police recovered the spanner used.
The charge against both Lai and Chew carries a jail term of between one and five years or a fine, or both, on conviction.
