Kota Kinabalu: A 49-year-old Filipina was sentenced to six years’ jail by the High Court here, Tuesday, for trafficking a migrant, three years ago.
Rowena Talattu Garcia pleaded guilty before Judge Leonard David Shim to the smuggling of a 16-year-old Chinese male migrant (undocumented) at 8.40pm on March 22, 2019 at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) here.
Rowena, a saloon assistant, committed the offence along with one Melna who is still at large.
Rowena informed the court of her wish to change her plea to guilty to the charge under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking-In Persons and Smuggling of the Migrants Act 2007.
The charge carries a jail term of up to 15 years, or with a fine, or both, on conviction.
In meting out the sentence, Leonard held that the court was satisfied that a deterrent sentence was required for the case after considering the mitigating factors, plea of guilt, aggravating factors and the nature and seriousness of the offence.
Earlier, the court heard from Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mohammed Ali @ Rocky Imran that Rowena was arrested by police following a tip-off in front of a convenience store at Bundusan in Penampang believed to be involved in a migrant smuggling syndicate.
Investigations revealed that Rowena was actively involved in the migrant smuggling syndicate and had direct involvement in managing the smuggling of undocumented migrants in Sabah.
Rowena was found to have been involved in the smuggling of the Chinese boy which was carried out on March 22, 2019 at the KKIA, the court heard.
The court heard that Rowena helped supply the said migrant with false identification and travel documents.
Counsel Korventt Wheezar E. Jomiji, representing Rowena, requested leniency on the grounds that it was her first offence and that she was remorseful.
Rowena has three children in the Philippines and was the sole breadwinner of her family and two children had to drop out of college due to insufficient funding, said Korventt, adding that the last child was burdened with cancer and that the purpose of her coming to Sabah was to earn additional income to support treatment for her daughter and to pay for the college of her two other daughters.
“The circumstances of this case is that she is being punished for being the black sheep of the whole operation. While she admits to the crime, she is also unhappy with her employers for asking her to do the wrongful thing. For that she is regretful of her actions,” said Korventt, adding that Rowena had been under remand for almost three years.
Ali urged for a deterrent sentence on the grounds that it was a security offence.
“Any person who commits the offence under Section 26A undermines the sovereignty of the country and our national security is at stake. Public interest must be taken into account,” he said.
The court ordered Rowena to serve the sentence from the date of her arrest and ordered her to be referred to the Immigration Department thereafter.
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