Kota Kinabalu: A man who, with his wife, jumped out of a car to flee police at the city centre, which was recorded by road users and circulated in social media last month, was jailed three days and fined RM2,000 or one-month for obstructing the police from discharging their duty.
Construction worker Mahathir Peer Muhamad, 24, changed his plea to guilty before Senior Assistant Registrar Tiong Wen Wen, who sat as a magistrate during case management, Wednesday.
Mahathir admitted to committing the offence before Corporals Sarjuin Sirin and Jeckson Michael at 10.15am on Jan 11 in front of the handicraft market, Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens.
Mahathir and his wife, Liza Nasir had, on Jan. 18, claimed trial separately to the charge under Section 186 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of up to two years or fine or both on conviction and that Liza’s case was set for mention on Feb 22.
Tiong ordered Mahathir, who was on court bail, to serve the jail sentence from Wednesday.
Earlier, prosecuting officer Inspector Kelvan Elson Maik, told the court that prior to the incident, the police were alerted about an argument between a couple in Tanjung Aru at about 10.15am the same day and when the police arrived they stopped the car and found five people in it, including a woman.
The people were then told to disembark from the car, said Kelvan adding that the couple then handed their identification documents to the police for a check.
Two of the other three men with them told police they did not bring their documents with them while the driver, claimed his MyKad was at the driver’s seat and went to retrieve it, the court heard.
While the police were busy inspecting, the woman went into the car and sat at the front passenger seat.
Suddenly the driver started the car engine and drove off but a man outside, jumped into the car before it sped off, said Kelvan.
A high-speed chase then ensued, with police tailing the car to the busy Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens in the city centre and the police managed to stop the car at the Sinsuran market area but the car tried to reverse dangerously, almost hitting police, causing the police to open fire at the tyres of the car.
The car finally came to a halt at Lorong Dua Puluh, near Le Meridian Hotel where the individuals inside abandoned the car and fled on foot towards Sinsuran, Kelvan said.
Duty counsel Lim Ming Zoong @ Lawrence, requested for a lenient sentence on the grounds that he, Mahathir, is married with two children and was the sole breadwinner of his family.
Kelvan applied for an adequate sentence.
In the same court, a 26-year-old man was charged with having housebreaking tools.
Ahadi Salleh allegedly had the tools comprising four rolls of wires and two units of wire cutter at 3.50am on Feb 12 in front of the MAA building, Api-Api Centre.
The charge under Section 18(e) of the Minor Offences Ordinance provides for a fine of up to RM100 or jail of up to three months or both, on conviction.
No plea was taken from Ahadi after the charge was read out to him via zoom.
The court set Feb 28 for Ahadi’s plea to be taken at open court and released him on a bail of RM1,200 in two sureties.
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