MELAKA: A jobless man was sentenced to nine months' jail for slapping a guard at a supermarket which was closed during the movement control order (MCO) period here on Wednesday (March 25).

The accused, Mohamad Shaiful Bahari Mohamad, 34, pleaded guilty at the Magistrate's Court here to charges of violating the MCO and slapping the security guard.

The charges were read out before Magistrate Mohamad Izwan Mohamed Noh on Thursday (March 26).

Based on the charge sheets, the accused had violated the MCO by attempting to patronise a hypermarket at 7.05pm on Wednesday (March 25) to buy a bottle of water and slapping the security guard who denied him entry.

However, during the MCO here, supermarkets are only allowed to operate from 7am to 7pm daily.

The accused committed the offences at Pasaraya Tesco, Jalan Panglima here at 7.05 pm on March 25.

He was charged under Rule 3(1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act (Measures within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020 which carries a maximum jail term of six months or a fine of up to RM1,000 or both upon conviction.

For the second offence, he was charged under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt, which carries a maximum of one year's jail, a RM2,000 fine, or both, upon conviction.

Mohamad Izwan, when meting out the sentence, said that the accused should have placed the interests of the nation before his own during this trying period when the nation is facing the threat of Covid-19.

The accused, who was unrepresented, was taken straight to prison.