Court rejects actor’s bid to appeal against conviction

 

Farid Kamil Zahari had been jailed for two offences against a policeman, but was given a RM5,500 fine on appeal to the High Court. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA: Actor-cum-director Farid Kamil Zahari failed to get permission today to appeal against his conviction and fine of RM5,000 for using criminal force to deter a policeman from discharging his duty and uttering improper words in a police station four years ago.

A three-member bench of the Court of Appeal led by Hanipah Farikullah unanimously rejected the application of Farid Kamil, 40, for leave to appeal to set aside the conviction and sentence handed down by the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 23 last year.

“The court finds that the question of law submitted by the defendant is irrelevant. Therefore, the defendant’s application has no merit and is rejected by the court,” said Hanipah, who sat with Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali.

On June 2, 2020, the Petaling Jaya magistrates’ court sentenced Farid Kamil to 13 months’ jail for using criminal force, according to Section 353 of the Penal Code, against constable Muhammad Nizam Jamaluddin at the Kota Damansara traffic police station inquiry counter at 1.20pm on Jan 11, 2018.

The actor was also jailed for four months for uttering improper words against the policeman at the same time and place, according to Section 90 of the Police Act 1967.

However, the court ordered the two sentences to run concurrently, with Farid Kamil only having to serve 13 months in jail.

However, following the actor’s appeal, the Shah Alam High Court replaced the 13-month jail term for using criminal force with a RM5,000 fine and the four-month jail sentence for uttering improper words with a RM500 fine.

Judicial commissioner Nurulhuda Nur’aini Mohamad Nor made the decision after taking into account that Farid Kamil had paid the compound to the parties involved in the incident, including the policeman.

Meanwhile, the three-member bench also rejected the prosecution’s application for an extension of time to file an appeal against the sentence for the charge under the Police Act 1967 after finding that the public prosecutor did not provide sufficient reasons.

This means that the prosecution will only pursue a cross-appeal against the RM5,000 fine against Farid Kamil for using criminal force.

The date for the hearing of the appeal has not been set by the court.

In today’s proceedings, the prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutors Nahra Dollah and Zaki Asyraf Zubir while Kee Wei Lon and Low Wei Loke acted on behalf of Farid Kamil. - FMT