Dangerous driving: Maritime officer is jailed, fined

Kota Kinabalu: A 38-year-old maritime officer was jailed 36 months and fined RM6,000 or another six months by the Traffic Court after he was found guilty of dangerous driving which caused the death of a motorcyclist.

Magistrate Jessica Ombou Kakayun meted out the sentence to Musa Dail in delivering her decision at the end of defence, Wednesday.

Musa was found guilty and convicted of driving a vehicle in a dangerous manner and causing the death of Fernandes Kadoh, 33, at 4am on Oct 16, 2017 at the traffic light junction in Lido, near here.

Musa had committed an offence under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act carries a jail term of between two years and 10 years and a fine of between RM5,000 and RM20,000 if convicted.

The court ordered Musa to serve the sentence from the date of his conviction (Wednesday).

However, Musa managed to obtain a stay of execution of the sentence pending his appeal to the High Court.

Jessica in allowing the stay application, maintained the bail on the same conditions, ruling that the court was satisfied that Musa had cooperated well throughout the trial and that Musa was of no flight risk.

Earlier, counsel Sylyester Kuan, representing Musa, applied for a lighter sentence on the grounds that Musa was a maritime officer and was the sole breadwinner of his family.

Musa had been cooperative with the authorities since the event and waited at the accident scene until the police came and also attended court proceedings, said Sylyester.

The counsel also informed the court that he was instructed to file an appeal to the High Court with regards to the court’s decision and applied for a stay of execution and for the same bail amount to be maintained and extended.

Traffic prosecuting officer Inspector Mohd Firdaus Che Mustafa applied for an appropriate sentence to be imposed based on the facts of the case and public interest and as a lesson to the public to drive prudently and carefully.

Firdaus informed the court that due to the incident, the victim left behind a wife and four children aged between five years old and one-year-old.

The victim’s widow lost the source of income as the victim was the sole bread winner of the family said Firdaus, adding that the widow only recently obtained a job in the police force.

Eight prosecution witnesses and  Musa himself testified throughout the trial.