KUALA LUMPUR – 2023 saw plenty of major cases go through the court system because of new laws, as well as dramatic acquittals of big-name politicians.
Scoop looks through some of the most important court cases that made the headlines this year.
The first case of stalking charged under the new anti-stalking law
Freelance designer Mohamad Safiq Rosli was the first person to be charged under Section 507A of the Penal Code for stalking.
Safiq was detained and charged after the Dewan Rakyat passed amendments to the Penal Code making stalking – both physically and online – a crime on March 29.
An amendment to Section 507A was included under the Penal Code (Act 574) to make stalking an offence, and any individual found guilty faces a maximum jail sentence of up to three years, a fine, or both.
The new law came into force on May 31, just three months before Acacia Mardiana Daud exposed Safiq’s alleged obsession with her, dating back to 2016.
Safiq allegedly went as far away as the United Kingdom, where he was arrested and charged with stalking Acacia, but he fled the country after failing to appear in court there in June.
Safiq was charged in Malaysia on August 10 but didn’t plead guilty then. The sitting magistrate sent him for a mental evaluation in Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Perak.
The 37-year-old then entered a conditional guilty plea on December 15, but on December 20, the magistrate’s court ordered his case to go to trial, which will commence on January 17. Safiq has not posted bail and remains under remand.
The heartbreaking case of Bella
The abuse of Bella, a teenage girl with Down Syndrome, was a case that angered many Malaysians when it came to light.
Rumah Bonda founder Siti Bainun Ahd Razali was charged with neglecting and abusing the 13-year-old girl, causing physical and emotional injuries at a condominium unit in Wangsa Maju between February and June 2021.
Siti Bainun was convicted of abuse and neglect, and sentenced to jail for 12 years by the KL sessions court on May 3.
This marked a precedent, as sessions court judge Izralizam Sanusi ruled that there would have been no abuse to Bella had she not been neglected by Siti Bainun, her sole and legal caregiver.
Politicians in the spotlight
Three Bersatu leaders, namely party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan, and the party’s Segambut division deputy chief Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad, were charged with corruption this year.
Wan Saiful was charged in February with asking and accepting a bribe of close to RM7 million in relation to the Jana Wibawa scheme, which was established when Muhyiddin was prime minister.
Muhyddin, in March, was charged in Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam courts for corruption and abuse of power, also in relation to the Jana Wibawa scheme.
However, in August, he was acquitted and discharged of his power abuse charges, although he still faces charges of money laundering.
Meanwhile, Adam Radlan, was charged with 11 corruption charges involving Jana Wibawa, and he is to stand trial starting May next year.
Zahid’s shocking acquittal
Deputy prime minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for 12 criminal breaches of trust, eight bribery charges, and 27 money laundering charges involving Yayasan Akalbudi funds.
By this time, the trial had already entered the defence stage with seven witnesses called.
This decision shook the country, leading some to question the credibility of the current government, as well as the judicial system.
The Malaysian Bar has since sought a judicial review over Zahid’s discharge.
Syed Saddiq found guilty of corruption
Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who had to quit his post as Muda president, was found guilty of corruption by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on November 9 in another shock decision.
The Muar MP was convicted of criminal breach of trust, money laundering, and misappropriating RM1.12 million of Bersatu youth wing Armada’s funds. He was charged with the offence in 2021.
Syed Saddiq was sentenced to nine years in jail, two strokes of the rotan, and a RM10 million fine.
The whipping sentence shocked many as he became the first politician to face the cane, but it was subsequently pointed out that his age, 31, made him eligible for whipping under the Criminal Procedure Code. Under the law, only male convicts over the age of 50, female offenders, and those on death row cannot be whipped.
However, he is expected to serve only a total of seven years in jail as the sentences for money laundering run concurrently. He was granted a stay of execution pending his appeal in the Court of Appeal.
Judicial achievements
The Federal Court also issued some major decisions this year.
One was its decision to declare Section 498 of the Penal Code, which criminalised men for enticing married women, as unconstitutional.
Besides that, the Court of Appeal ruled in November that the existence of vernacular schools in the country did not violate Article 152 of the federal constitution, which pertains to the national language.
The Palace of Justice also began hearing appeals by convicts on death row after the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 (Act 846) came into force in July.
The Federal Court’s review was enabled with the coming into force of the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of The Federal Court) Act 2023 (Act 847) on September 12.
The apex court has started hearing the first batch of 11 reviews on the death penalty and has begun commuting death sentences for several cases into extended jail terms.
These include commuting a 28-year-old former security guard’s death sentence to 33 years in jail and 12 strokes of rotan for killing a high school girl, and 20 years’ jail for a man found guilty in 2021 of killing his wife. – December 30, 2023