KUCHING: An unemployed man was fined RM10,000 in default six months’ jail by the Sessions Court yesterday for entering the Dered Krian National Park, Bau and taking geological rocks in the form of raw gold two years ago.
Cornelius Lukau, 30, pleaded guilty to two charges read by an interpreter before Judge Afidah Abdul Rahman.
He was first charged under Section 26(a) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code and could be punished under Section 32(a) of the same Section, for entering the national park without permission from warden.
Next, he was charged under Section 26(g) of the National Parks and Natural Reserves Ordinance 1998 read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code and could be punished under Section 32(a) of the same Section, for removing natural materials, namely, geological rocks in the national park.
The accused was alleged to have committed the offence at approximately 9.45 am on October 13 in 2021.
The judge imposed a fine of RM5,000 or three months’ imprisonment for each charge against Cornelius.
Meanwhile, in a separate Sessions Court, an elderly man was fined RM6,000 in default four months in prison for trespassing the same national park without permission and removing geological rocks from the area.
Soon Jun Seng, 61, pleaded guilty to two charges read before Judge Maris Agan.
Maris imposed a fine of RM1,000 or two months in prison for the first charge.
Meanwhile, for the second charge, Jun Seng was sentenced to a fine of RM5,000 or two months in prison.
The accused’s accomplice, Bong Chin Lung, 32, a mentally disabled person, was released and acquitted of both charges.
According to all charges, they jointly committed the two offences at Dered Krian National Park, at approximately 5.06 pm on April 16 in 2021.
According to the facts of the case, on October 13 and April 16 of that year, police and Sarawak Forest Corporation (SFC) carried out routine patrols in the Dered Krian National Park.
During a routine patrol, the team arrested Cornelius on Oct 13 and seized 16 sacks of rock containing geological materials and other tools such as machetes, chisels, hammers and axes.
Apart from that, the team also arrested Chin Lung and Jun Seng along with their loot and geological materials.
The three accused each failed to show that they had valid permission to enter the national park to take or destroy and remove geological rock materials in the Dered Krian National Park from the warden.
It is understood that the geological rock materials were unprocessed gold.
The prosecution of all three cases was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Roland Felix Hardin while all the accused were not represented by lawyers.
