| Fadley Faisal |

THE Magistrate’s Court yesterday ordered two policemen to settle fines after convicting them on charges of assaulting a suspect, Inayatullah bin Matasin, during arrest.

Magistrate Muhammed Faisal bin Pehin Dato Haji Kefli ordered Police Constable 5807 Muhd Mu’izwan bin Kamran to settle a BND2,500 fine, or serve three months’ jail in default of payment, and Corporal 4718 Liew Ghee Chian to settle a BND800 fine, or serve one month’s jail in default.

Magistrate Muhammed Faisal found that the two possessed good police records.

The court determined that a custodial sentence for the duo was not justified in this case.

DPPs Shamshuddin bin Haji Kamaluddin and Dr Hussin Ali Idris’ case against the duo stated that the victim failed to appear for a court mention and an arrest warrant was issued.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) moved to arrest the victim after receiving a tipoff that he was in the Old Airport area.

The victim tried to evade arrest by ramming his car into one of the CID cars, and managed to escape. However, the victim’s car broke down a short distance away and he fled on foot.

He ended inside the Brunei Research Department (BRD) compound where he surrendered himself to security guards who sat him down on the guard post bench.

The CID officers giving chase arrived at the BRD shortly. They rushed towards the victim and began assaulting him.

The court found that the CCTV footage of the incident was clear, and that the victim was able to identify the duo.

The assault on Inayatullah at 1am on March 14, 2016 at the BRD office on Jalan Perayaan in Berakas was backed up by a security guard who testified that he saw the duo hitting the victim.

The guard told the court that he could see Mu’izwan making a stomping motion during an episode of the assault at a drain, a claim supported by CCTV footage.

Two other officers involved in the case, Corporal 4473 Herdey anak Bujang and Lance Corporal 5371 Muhammad Hafizan bin Abdulkhan, have been acquitted by the court after the prosecution failed to gather any witnesses to independently testify that the two had assaulted the victim at the BRD office car park.

CCTV recordings of this episode were unclear and the suspects in the video could not be identified.

Muhd Mu’izwan and Muhammad Hafizan are being represented by lawyer Pengiran Khairul Nizam bin Pengiran Haji Md Yassin, while Liew Ghee Chian and Herdey anak Bujang are represented by lawyer Rozaiman Abdul Rahman.