Businessman gets leave to appeal conviction for using criminal force

 

P Thiagarajan is appealing his conviction for the offence of preventing a Shah Alam City Council enforcement officer from carrying out her duties in June 2017. (Facebook pic)

PUTRAJAYA: A businessman, who was found guilty by a magistrate of using criminal force to stop a civil servant from discharging her duties, has been allowed a final chance to set aside his conviction.

The Court of Appeal will hear the appeal of P Thiagarajan, better known in the corporate and political circles as “Oms” Thiagarajan, after it approved seven questions of law.

Justice Hanipah Farikullah said the applicant had fulfilled all requirements under Section 50(2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

An accused whose case originates from the subordinate courts has no automatic right of appeal to the Court of Appeal without the permission of the court.

Permission is normally granted if the appeal poses legal questions relating to the trial which the court must determine.

Among the questions framed are whether the magistrate placed a higher burden of proof on Thiagarajan, 69, to earn an acquittal.

Others include whether the applicant’s defence was a bare denial, and whether the investigating officer’s failure to determine the identity of the individual who recorded the video at the crime scene was fatal to the prosecution’s case.

Hanipah, who sat with justices Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Hashim Hamzah, also allowed Thiagarajan’s application to introduce fresh evidence during his appeal later.

A magistrate will now record the evidence of three persons based on the video and forensic report which Thiagarajan contends is a case of mistaken identity.

Once recorded, the new evidence will be brought to the Court of Appeal to be assessed at the appeal.

On Oct 28, the Shah Alam High Court upheld Thiagarajan’s conviction and a six-month jail term imposed by a magistrate.

The court also refused Thiagarajan a stay of his sentence.

He was incarcerated at the Kajang prison until Nov 21 when the Court of Appeal allowed him bail.

Thiagarajan and another person still at large were charged with committing the offence at a car park in Section 25, Shah Alam, at about 12.30pm on June 6, 2017.

He was found to have prevented Shah Alam City Council enforcement officer Rohana Bahari from carrying out her duties.

Thiagarajan’s defence was that he was not at the car park.

The magistrate found him guilty on March 25, 2021 and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment and an RM8,000 fine. He has since paid the fine.

The magistrate had also granted Thiagarajan’s application for a stay of the jail sentence pending an appeal to the High Court.

Counsel V Sithambaram, Gobind Singh Deo, S Preakas and Miguel Sequerah appeared for Thiagarajan, while deputy public prosecutor Wong Poi Yoke represented the prosecution. - FMT