Fadley Faisal

A 23-year-old Filipina was fined BND5,000 by the Magistrate’s Court yesterday after she pleaded guilty to committing an offence under Section 62A(2) of the Infectious Diseases Act, Chapter 204.

Jesussa Joy Balquin De Guzman, will have to serve a month’s jail in default of payment, for her failure to comply with the orders issued by the Ministry of Health (MoH) on March 19, 2020 for all public facilities including dining venues to be closed for dine-in services.

The defendant, an employee of Kui Fook Restaurant, whose owner was also convicted in court last week, pleaded guilty to the charge. She agreed to Deputy Public Prosecutor Nor’adliatul Hidayah binti Haji Mohd Zaidi’s facts of the case which stated that the defendant, despite knowing about the orders issued by the Ministry of Health (MoH), continued to accept customers, take orders and serve food to customers at the restaurant on March 22, 2020, three days after the orders from the MoH was issued.

Chief Magistrate Pengiran Masni binti Pengiran Haji Bahar said that a deterrent sentence must be passed to reflect the defendant’s blatant disregard of the orders which have been put in place to protect the nation.