Kota Kinabalu: A businesswoman who was caught in a viral video shouting at a policeman during a roadblock five years ago has been acquitted of a charge of outraging the modesty of a police officer.
Magistrate Marilyn Kelvin on Friday discharged and acquitted Nur Jawaheer Ismail, 39, without calling for her defence after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case.
Nur Jawaheer was charged with committing the offence at about 5.30pm on June 1, 2021, at a roadblock along Jalan Kepayan here.
According to the charge, she allegedly intended to insult the modesty of Corporal Maslin Samih by uttering offensive words in the presence of Inspector Hamzah Ismail and Rosmini.
She was charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison or a fine, or both, on conviction.
In delivering the decision, the court said it had carefully evaluated the evidence presented by the prosecution through six witnesses, the cross-examination by the defence, exhibits tendered, and written submissions from both sides.
The court held that the prosecution failed to prove an essential element of the offence, namely the intention to insult modesty under Section 509 of the Penal Code.
The magistrate noted several material gaps in the prosecution’s case, including the delay in lodging the police report, the omission of the alleged offensive words in the first information report, the absence of the original video recordings as substantive evidence, and the lack of direct evidence to support the required criminal intent.
As the evidence allowed for more than one reasonable inference, the inference favourable to the accused prevailed. The court therefore ordered that Nur Jawaheer be discharged and acquitted, with bail to be refunded to the rightful depositor.
Nur Jawaheer was represented by counsel Luke Ressa Balang, Hairul Vyron Othman, and Angela Ubud.
