Wildlife trader wins appeal to walk free

PUTRAJAYA: International wildlife trader Anson Wong Keng Liang (pic) was freed after the Court of Appeal here allowed his appeal to reduce his jail sentence for illegally exporting boa constrictor snakes without a permit.

Justice Datuk Wira Low Hop Bing, chairing a three-member panel, reduced Wong’s jail term from five years to 17-and-a-half months.

The panel, also comprising Court of Appeal judges Datuk K.N. Segara and Datuk Azahar Mohamed, held that the 17 months and 15 days’ jail term which Wong had served from Sept 7, 2010, until yesterday served the interests of justice.

The court allowed Wong’s appeal to set aside a Shah Alam High Court’s decision in enhancing his jail term from six months imposed by the magistrate’s court on him to five years’ jail.

“The appellant (Wong) walks out of this court today a free man in view of the custodial sentence he served,” said Justice Low yesterday.

Justice Low said the High Court, in enhancing Wong’s jail term, had erroneously considered certain facts such as the squeezing of the 95 boa constrictor snakes into a small bag, thereby torturing the snakes.

He said the High Court judge had also erroneously considered two venomous rhinoceros viper snakes (found in Wong’s bag) that were not stated in the charge against Wong and the fact that Wong was greedy in profit-making.

Low said the charge against Wong was exporting the 95 boa constrictor snakes without a permit, therefore any other considerations would be outside the ambit of the charge which warranted the Court of Appeal’s intervention.

He said the High Court did not make any reference to Wong’s guilty plea.

“It is trite law that Wong’s plea of guilt is a mitigating factor. It is trite law that the fact Wong was the first offender is another mitigating factor,” he said.

The panel affirmed the High Court’s decision in setting aside the RM190,000 fine imposed by the Sepang Sessions Court as it was beyond the ceiling of RM10,000.

On Jan 24 last year, the 53-year-old trader obtained leave from the Court of Appeal to appeal against the decision of the High Court on Nov 4 last year which had enhanced his jail term from six months to five years.

On Sept 6 last year, the Sepang Magistrate’s Court sentenced Wong to six months’ jail and fined him RM190,000 after the Penangite pleaded guilty to illegally exporting the endangered species without a permit at the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang at 8.50pm on Aug 26 last year.

Wong was at KLIA on transit from Penang to Jakarta when the snakes were found in his suitcase.

The High Court imposed the five-year jail term on Wong after allowing the prosecution’s appeal for a heavier sentence. The court, however, set aside the RM190,000 fine.