GEORGE TOWN: The High Court allowed an appeal by a quantity surveyor who was jailed and fined for flashing obscene hand gestures at Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Hajah Haminah and a police officer last year.
Judicial Commissioner Wong Teck Meng also ordered Leong Pei Koe, 30, to be retried before another magistrate at the Balik Pulau Court.
Wong said the two charges against Leong were not clearly described in the prosecution's facts.
"The facts did not show how his gestures can be considered as obscene and, therefore, I dismiss the prosecution's cross-appeal over the inadequacy of the earlier sentence," he said.
On Feb 13 last year, Leong was sentenced to a month's jail and fined RM8,000 by the Balik Pulau Magistrate's Court after he pleaded guilty to two counts of flashing obscene hand gestures in public.
On the first count, Leong was charged with flashing the obscene hand gesture to the Raja Permaisuri Agong while the car carrying her was passing the departure hall of the Bayan Lepas International Airport at 11.50am on Feb 11, 2013.
He was also charged with showing the obscene hand gesture to a policeman, ASP Mohamad Fakhrudin Abdul Hamid, at the same place, time and date.
Both the charges were made under Section 294 (a) of the Penal Code which provides an imprisonment for up to three months or fine or both, upon conviction.
On the first count, Magistrate Muhamad Hidayat Wahab sentenced Leong to 30 days' jail and fined him RM6,000, in default two months jail.
On the second count, Leong was sentenced to seven days' jail and fined RM2,000, in default one month's jail.
On March 7, 2013, Leong filed an appeal against the conviction and sentence handed down by the Balik Pulau Magistrate's Court.
Initially, the appeal was heard before High Court Judge Datuk Zamani Abdul Rahim, who then recused himself from hearing the appeal case following an application by Leong's counsel then, R.S.N. Rayer, on the grounds that Zamani had made a prejudicial statement in connection with the case when the appeal was read before him on May 15.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Cheah Yit. - Bernama
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