Fadley Faisal

The Magistrate’s Court yesterday handed 24 weeks’ jail sentences to two of brothers who were recently convicted of assaulting a secondary school teacher.

However, a stay of execution of sentence is in effect pending an appeal.

13047 Warrant Officer 2 Mohammad Yusirwan bin Yussof and Mohammad Yadiy Yusranshah bin Yussof earlier claimed trial to the charges of voluntarily causing hurt under Section 323 of the Penal Code, carrying a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment or a fine; and assault under Section 352 of the Penal Code, which carries a year’s imprisonment or a fine.

Magistrate Hajah Noor Amalina binti Dato Paduka Haji Alaihuddin took into account the circumstances of the case as well as its aggravating and mitigating factors. The court said the circumstances in the case against Mohammad Yusirwan are more aggravated as he “surely knows the implications of his actions” in light of the defendant’s professional responsibility.

Mohammad Yadiy Yusranshah’s submissions, also through their counsel Sheikh Noordin Sheikh Mohammad, of being suspended from work and having endured it as a form of punishment was rejected as the court instead ruled that the defendant’s “employer has the right to decide to impose any such penalties.”

Before arriving to a sentence, the court further thought that the defence’s claim of having been subjected to ridicule from the video recordings shared widely on social media “have little to do with the rationale for punishment under criminal law.”

The court also rejected the defence plea for a probation or community service to be imposed and decided to hand down a custodial sentence after consideration of the case as a whole, and arriving at the length of imprisonment after having taken into account the totality principle as well as the fact that the offences had “arisen out of the same incident and facts.”

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharah binti Abdul Hamid’s case against the defendants stated that 13047 Warrant Officer Mohammad Yusirwan, the parent of a student at Sayyidina Abu Bakar Secondary School (SMSAB) in Berakas, had voluntarily caused hurt to the complainant Muhammad Afandi bin Sahdun, a teacher at SMSAB, by punching the latter on the left side of the face in the school conference room at 10am on September 16, 2017.

He also assaulted Muhammad Afandi by making pointing gestures towards him while shouting.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Yadiy Yusranshah had voluntarily caused hurt to Muhammad Afandi by kicking him in the lower abdomen. He also made pointing gestures towards the teacher while shouting.

Videos capturing the incident were circulated widely on several social media platforms at the time.

Magistrate Hajah Noor Amalina found the prosecution to have proven its case beyond the court’s reasonable doubt and disbelieved the defendants’ claims.