YAM gets 8-weekjail, $6,400 in fines

YAM Pengiran Muda Abdul Mu’min was sentenced yesterday to eight weeks in jail and fined $6,400 for multiple traffic offences and giving a false statement to the police.

The court document submitted by deputy public prosecutors Hjh Anifa Rafiza Hj Abd Ghani and Dk Siti Nurul Fairuz Pg Rosli, stated that the defendant drove and bumped into another car on September 11, 2014.

He was banned from driving after he was convicted of dangerous driving in a previous case.

YAM was facing a total of 12 charges, which included driving without third party insurance at the time of the accident.

Furthermore, the defendant had also failed to report the accident and drove off using a different vehicle. He was also charged with giving a false statement to the police on how the incident unfolded six days later.

Delivering the sentence yesterday, Senior Magistrate Hj Nabil Daraina PUKDPSSU Hj Badaruddin said the defendant was again caught driving while under disqualification and without insurance on November 19, 2014, nine days after his first appearance before the Magistrates’ Court.

The senior magistrate said actual remorseful behaviour carried more weight than mere words of remorse, and he found it difficult to reconcile the defendant’s actions as put forward by Defence Counsel Balendran Balasingam of Ho & Siong.

The defence counsel had urged the court to consider the “suppressed emotions of the defendant” when his client knew that he was facing a possible custodial sentence.

The court said the defendant had chosen to drive in a non-emergency situation, only because he wanted to go to the gym.

Hj Nabil Daraina said YAM’s subsequent refusal to accept service of a police summons showed the defendant’s blatant disregard of the court and the law itself.

The senior magistrate said the court will “pass its sentence non-discriminately”, adding that the defendant came from a privileged background and should be setting an exemplary role to the society.

The defendant’s actions, said the senior magistrate, led to the unnecessary interrogation of another person and the reason for the defendant doing so was to evade the repercussions of driving while under disqualification.

The court must send a clear message to the public that such offences are not to be taken lightly, said the senior magistrate.

In response to the defence counsel seeking a probation order for his client, the senior magistrate said he was not persuaded that a probation order was appropriate to deal with the defendant based on the circumstances before the court.

In sentencing the defendant, the senior magistrate spelled out the fines for various offences, including careless driving while under disqualification, failure to report an accident within 24 hours, and driving without insurance.

On the charge of lodging a false report to the police, the senior magistrate said this was not a trivial matter as the defendant had lied and hid the truth. The defendant had six days to think before he gave his statement to the police, said the senior magistrate.

However, as there was no information as to how much time had been wasted on the investigation as a result of the defendant’s actions, the senior magistrate took a starting point of six weeks imprisonment and reduced it to four weeks.

For the charge of driving on November 19, 2014 while under disqualification, Hj Nabil Daraina sentenced the defendant to four weeks in prison.

On the charge of driving without insurance on November 19, the senior magistrate took a starting point of three weeks imprisonment and reduced it to two weeks.

In total, the defendant is sentenced to a fine of $6,400 in default of 24 weeks imprisonment and a custodial sentence of eight weeks. The defendant was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Following the sentencing, the defence counsel applied for a stay of execution on the custodial sentences pending an appeal. The application was granted by the court.


Sumber - The Brunei Times