YAM pleads guilty to charges

YAM Pengiran Muda Abdul Mu’min yesterday pleaded guilty to all the road traffic charges and the charge of providing false information to the police during investigation.

The court document submitted by deputy public prosecutor Hjh Anifa Rafiza Hj Abd Ghani and Dk Siti Nurul Fairuz Pg Rosli stated that on September 11, 2014, the defendant admitted to careless driving and that he was involved in an accident with a Ford Ranger.

He also pleaded guilty to failure to report the accident to the police within 24 hours.

The defendant also admitted to driving on multiple occasions with a suspended licence for a period of 12 months after he was convicted by the Magistrates’ Court for careless driving last year.

The court document stated the defendant told DSP Abd Hj Hj Apong, District Traffic Officer of Brunei-Muara, that it was Saifuddin who was driving the car at the time of the accident, information which the defendant knew was false, thereby knowing likely that investigations would be conducted on Saifuddin.

While the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge of providing false information, YAM Pengiran Muda Abdul Mu’min disagreed with the charge accusing him of having intentions to cause Saifuddin to be instituted criminal proceedings for an alleged careless driving offence when he knew that there is no lawful ground for such proceeding.

During the proceedings yesterday, presiding senior magistrate Hj Nabil Daraina PUKDPSSU Hj Badaruddin raised a further matter with respect to the charges under the Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third Party Risks) Act, Chapter 90.

The Senior Magistrate drew attention to an appeal heard in the High Court, where the High Court decided that, where a motor vehicle had a valid insurance policy, the driver should not be charged under section 3(1), Motor Vehicle Insurance (Third Party Risks) Act, Chapter 90, merely because there is a clause in the insurance policy that states the insurance policy would be void if the driver commits any offences under the Road Traffic Act, Chapter 68.

DPP Hjh Anifa Rafiza informed the Court that while the prosecution is aware of the case, the prosecution wished to draw the Court’s attention to another appeal case in the High Court in 1982, where it was decided that the discretion lies with the Public Prosecutor as to whether or not charges should be preferred and, in the present case, the prosecution is exercising its discretion to prosecute.

The Court decided to reserve its ruling on the charges.

The Senior Magistrate then convicted the defendant for all the six charges under the Road Traffic Act, Chapter 68 and the Penal Code offence for giving a false statement to the police and rejecting the defendant’s plea with regards to the charge under section for intending to cause Saifuddin to be instituted criminal proceedings when he knew that there is no lawful ground for such proceeding.

The Senior Magistrate reserved his ruling for conviction on the four charges under sec 3(2) Motor Vehicle Insurance (Third Party Risks) Act, Chapter 90.

The matter will be heard again on January 21, at 9am, for the Court’s decision pertaining to the charges under the Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third Party Risks) Act, Chapter 90 and for the defendant, who is represented by Balendran Balasingam of Ho & Siong, to submit his mitigation on the offences that he has been convicted for.


Sumber - The Brunei Times