Kota Kinabalu:
A café owner was jailed a day and fined RM700 or one week’s jail for conducting the opening ceremony of his café in July, which caused a large attendance during the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO).Soo Chee Yong, 37, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Afiq Agoes to committing the offence. The offence took place at 7.30pm on July 28 at the PR Café, on the first floor of Lorong Plaza 333, Penampang bypass road.
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Afiq in meting out the sentence held that Soo’s action was dangerous to the public, especially during the current Covid-19 pandemic and hoped that the sentence would serve as a lesson. Soo had violated Rule 3 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020 which is punishable under Rule 11(1) of the same Regulations that carries a fine of up to RM1,000 or a jail term of not more than six months or both, upon conviction. Earlier, Inspector Lim Swee Beng informed the court that on the said day the police raided the premises following a complaint in the Penampang Police Facebook on the matter. Police arrested 18 people, including the premise owner, lion dance manager and his troupe for organising an event which complicated the implementation of social distancing. The court heard that Soo had organised a launching ceremony with several programmes which was against the SOP of the RMCO.
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Among the programmes held were lion dance performance, ribbon cutting ceremony and busking which attracted visitors at the area to gather. Counsel Valentino James Tanggar, representing Soo, applied for a fine on the grounds that imprisonment would only expose him to Covid-19 and that Soo, who is a businessman, was remorseful. When asked by the court on what actually happened on the said day, Valentino replied that at first there were only about 10-20 people but more came later. Valentino also told the court that he was present during the incident and that it was only a gimmick. He also concurred with the magistrate that the sound from the premises was loud which caused people to gather. The prosecution applied for an adequate sentence.
