Ex-cop’s conviction for enticing married woman for sex overturned

 

The Court of Appeal overturned an ex-cop’s conviction for enticing a married woman for illicit sex which had been handed down by the Kuala Terengganu magistrates’ court and affirmed on appeal.

PUTRAJAYA: 

A former policeman saw his conviction for enticing a married woman for illicit sex overturned by the Court of Appeal on grounds that the offence had been previously struck down by the apex court as unconstitutional.

A three-member bench chaired by Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim said the appeals court was bound by a Federal Court ruling handed down in another case last year. 

The appeal is allowed and the appellant is acquitted and discharged,

 he said, adding that the RM6,000 fine previously paid by the 42-year-old man is to be refunded.

Also on the panel hearing the appeal were Justices Zaini Mazlan and Noorin Badaruddin.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Aznee Salmie Ahmad told the court the prosecution would not contest the appeal since the apex court’s ruling binds the Court of Appeal.

Lawyer C Vignesh Kumar, representing the appellant, submitted that the Federal Court ruling had rendered Section 498 of the Penal Code void ab initio (from the very outset). Counsel P Purshotaman and D Yasinthra also appeared for the former cop.

Section 498 provides that a person who entices away any woman whom he knows to be the wife of another for the purpose of illicit intercourse commits an offence punishable with imprisonment for up to two years, a fine or both.

The man had been charged in the Kuala Terengganu magistrates’ court on Nov 3, 2019, with committing the offence in Kuala Terengganu between Nov 25, 2016 and June 17, 2018.

On March 6, 2020, the magistrate sentenced him to six months’ jail and fined him RM3,500 after finding him guilty of the charge. He duly paid the fine but the court allowed him a stay of the jail term pending an appeal.

On Feb 23 last year, the High Court dismissed his appeal against the conviction, but varied the sentence by setting aside the jail term and raising the fine to RM6,000.

However, in another case heard on Dec 23 last year, a five-member bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat struck down Section 498 of the Penal Code on grounds that it violated the Federal Constitution.

She said the provision, which came into force before Merdeka, was incapable of being modified as doing so would change the character of the offence.

The Federal Court was hearing a case involving a 54-year-old businessman who was charged with the offence at the Petaling Jaya magistrates’ court in 2020 following a report lodged by the woman’s husband.

The Shah Alam High Court allowed his application to refer the constitutional question to the Federal Court for determination.

The Federal Court said Section 498 violated the fundamental right of all persons to equality before the law as set out in Articles 8(1) and 8(2) of the constitution. - FMT