KUCHING: Four men have been fined RM1,500 each or sentenced to two months in prison for assaulting a Sarawak deputy minister at his family’s residence just before the Gawai celebration last May.
The individuals involved in the incident are Azizol Abu Bakar, Junaidy Mat, Mohd Hafizan Hadenan and Mohammad Hafizzan Ramadani Abu Bakar, aged between 23 and 32.
They pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 323 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, before Magistrate Syarifah Fatimah Azura Wan Ali.
The charge was related to an incident on May 30, where the group intentionally caused injury to a 53-year-old victim in front of a house in Tabuan Jaya at around 9.06pm.
The possible penalty for this charge could have been imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of up to RM2,000, or both.
Reports suggest that the assault occurred when the victim was heading to his family’s residence before Gawai.
While passing through an alley in the area, the victim encountered the group believed to be inside a parked car by the roadside.
He confronted them about their presence, leading to an altercation that resulted in the individuals attacking the victim before fleeing.
Following the incident, the victim was taken to the hospital for treatment, and a police report was lodged for further investigation.
Subsequently, all four accused were arrested by the police on June 4 at different locations in Tabuan Hilir, Semariang, Petra Jaya and Jalan Simpang Tiga.
It was later revealed that all the accused had prior criminal and drug-related records. Urine screening tests showed that three of them tested positive for methamphetamine while the other tested positive for marijuana.
During the court proceedings, the prosecution was led by deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Asymawi Ghazali while the accused were not represented by lawyers.
