Kota Kinabalu: A 54-year-old man was on Tuesday sentenced to three years in jail and RM5,000 fine or six months’ jail after he was found guilty of setting his house on fire in Kota Belud, two years ago.
Sessions Court judge Elsie Primus in convicting Sedin Mertin, held that the prosecution had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt.
Sedin, unemployed, was found guilty of committing mischief by burning the house at 9am on Aug 4, 2021 at Kg Kuala Abai in Kota Belud.
Elsie ordered Sedin, who was on bail, to serve the jail sentence from Tuesday.
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Sedin had on Sept 8, 2021 claimed trial to the charge under Section 436 of the Penal Code which provides a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine, on conviction.
Counsel Khairudin Noordin, representing Sedin, requested a lenient sentence on the grounds, among others, that it was his first offence and that he was currently under treatment for his head injury at a hospital.
The defence also applied not to impose any fine by submitting that fine is not mandatory.
The court was also informed by the counsel that the house actually belonged to Sedin and not his wife and that it had been repaired but was not occupied as the wife and the children were staying elsewhere.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tham Pou Jin pressed for a heavy sentence as a lesson to Sedin and other would-be offenders.
Tham submitted that the offence committed by Sedin was a very dangerous wrongdoing that could threaten or endanger people’s life.
Tham said all the belongings had been destroyed and the family members who were at the place of the incident suffered trauma.
Six prosecution witnesses and two defence witnesses were called to testify throughout the trial.
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