PUTRAJAYA – An unemployed man who was appealing to reduce his jail term for armed robbery using a ‘Rambo’ knife was caught red-handed after giving conflicting mitigation by the Court of Appeal Oct 2.
“Have you forgotten what you said previously (to the trial judge)? We read the mitigation (document) before us,” said the Court of Appeal three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Yaacob Md Sam to Mohd Fahmi Md Zin, 33.
Yaacob, who sat with two other judges namely Datuk P. Ravinthran and Datuk Mohd Sofian Abdul Razak then read Mohd Fahmi’s mitigation at the end of the defence case at Petaling Jaya Session Court on Feb 19, 2019, which stated the accused was jobless and did not financially support his family.
“In your mitigation, you (Mohd Fahmi) said, “I ask for money from my family and they give me. That is the way I was taught. But today, you said something else, that you are supporting your family,” said the judge.
Mohd Fahmi, who was not represented, bowed his head and apologised for his mistake, and said he was not in the right frame of mind then.
Mohd Fahmi has filed an appeal to set aside the seven-year jail term and one stroke of rotan meted out by the Shah Alam High Court last year and asked the court to uphold the 29-month jail sentence imposed by Petaling Jaya Sessions Court.
The bench then unanimously dismissed Mohd Fahmi’s appeal and retained the seven-year jail term and one stroke of the rotan after finding his appeal has no merits.
Mohd Fahmi was found guilty of committing the offence at a 24-hour convenience store in Damansara Damai, Petaling district at 3.35 am on Jan 5, 2018.
Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Zaki Ashraf Zubir said the sentence imposed by the High Court was appropriate as the punishment for armed robbery was a jail term of up to 14 years, fine and whipping.
According to the facts of the case, the victim suffered trauma over the robbery and resigned from his job to return to the village after the incident.
In a separate case, the same bench also maintained the five-year jail term and three strokes of rotan imposed on a teenage boy for causing grievous hurt to a teenager by using a parang.
Justice Yaacob said Kota Bharu Sessions Court has initially sentenced the accused to 12 years and three strokes of the rotan, and on appeal, the High Court reduced the jail term.
DPP Nurshafini Mustafha prosecuted while lawyer Ahmad Nizam Mohamad represented Afiq.
— BERNAMA
