PUTRAJAYA: A religious teacher today began a six-month jail term for causing hurt to his pupil by caning him on the legs five years ago because the boy refused to see him as instructed.
Adib Abd Halim, 28, was also fined RM2,000, the maximum allowed under the law for voluntarily causing hurt to the victim, then 11 years old.
A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Hanipah Farikullah said the High Court did not impose a sentence in accordance with the law.
The High Court had revised a magistrate’s decision and sentenced Adib to a day’s jail and fined him RM4,000 which he paid.
“We set aside the (High Court) sentence and restore the magistrate’s ruling. We order the warrant of committal to be issued forthwith,” Hanipah said in allowing the prosecution’s appeal.
The other judges on the bench were P Ravinthran and Hashim Hamzah.
Hanipah said the High Court also “did not consider at all” the sentencing principle for the offence.
She said the bench took into consideration the injuries sustained by the boy, who was admitted to hospital for two days, and that he was under the care of Adib.
“We also considered the mitigation factors in determining the sentence,” she said.
Deputy public prosecutor Dhiya Shazwani Izyan Mohd Akhir submitted earlier that the punishment for the offence was a maximum one-year jail term and a fine of up to RM2,000 or both.
“The High Court judge had misdirected himself in imposing a fine that exceeded what is allowed under the law,” she said.
Lawyer Khairul Amin Abdullah, who represented Adib, urged the bench not to disturb the jail term, saying his client had lost his job.
The bench ordered the excess fine imposed on Adib to be returned to him.
The trial was told that Adib had whipped the boy’s legs with a cane at a school in Bandar Seri Putra, Hulu Langat, Kajang, on Aug 16, 2017. - FMT
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