Quarantine centre escapee is jailed

Kota Kinabalu: A 25-year-old Filipino was on Friday jailed six months  by the Magistrate’s Court for defying the Movement Control Order (MCO) by escaping from a quarantine centre.

Asmil Tito, unemployed, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Lovely Natasha Charles to committing the offence by deliberately not complying with instructions from the health inspector at 8am on Oct 19 at No 15, fourth floor, of the Fire and Rescue quarantine centre, Jalan Sulaman, here.

Inspector Kelvan Elson Maik in presenting the facts of the case, told the court that Asmil was ordered to be quarantined at the centre and disobeyed instructions by leaving the centre during the quarantine period without permission.

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The court heard that Asmil was ordered to undergo 14 days quarantine from Oct 18 to Oct 31 by Health Inspector Rozita Ibrahim.

Asmil had committed an offence under Section 22 (b) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 which carries a jail term of up to two years or fine or both, upon conviction.

Kelvan informed the court that Asmil was Covid-19 negative for Friday’s court proceedings.

Asmil, who was not represented, requested for a lenient sentence and applied for the sentence to run concurrently with his three other jail sentences.

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He said on Nov 4 he was jailed 15 months, two months and four months plus one stroke of the cane respectively for trespassing, having items believed to be stolen and illegal entry by the Magistrate’s Court and Sessions Court.

The prosecution told the court that Asmil was first arrested by police for having items believed to be stolen on Oct 12 and at the same time was found to have no valid documents.

Kelvan said that when Asmil was about to be charged in court for illegal entry, he underwent Covid-19 swab test and was tested positive and placed under quarantined at the centre.

Kelvan added that Asmil escaped from quarantine centre and committed another offence by trespassing into a hotel room in the city centre on Oct 29 and was rrested by police and was later charged in the court for the trespassing, having items believed to be stolen and illegal entry offences on Nov 4.

When asked by the court on the reason for running away from the quarantine centre, Asmil said he was bored and also confused at that time.

The court ordered Asmil to serve the sentence consecutively with all of his other jail terms and ordered him to be referred to the Immigration Department thereafter.