KUALA LUMPUR: A former convict was sentenced to 42 months’ jail by the Sessions Court here, after he attacked a friend who had been rude to his own mother.
Mohd Rafiq Dinie Amru El Hafize, 25, pleaded guilty to injuring his friend in the head using a crash helmet early this month, Bernama reported.
The accused, who was unrepresented, appealed for leniency on the grounds that he had lost control of his emotions upon seeing his friend being rude to his mother.
The fact that he had lost his own mother to breast cancer had made him upset seeing such behaviour, he was quoted as saying by the national news agency.
Deputy public prosecutor Siti Aisyah Ahmad pressed for a “just sentence commensurate with the serious offence” committed by the accused, Bernama reported.
Judge Emelia Kaswati Mohamad Khalid meted out the punishment to Mohd Rafiq Dinie, who was released from prison recently on a drug-related offence, after he changed his plea to guilty when the case came up for mention Thursday.
Prior to sentencing, Emelia Kaswati advised the accused not to repeat the offence and hoped that the lengthy jail sentence would serve as a lesson, according to Bernama.
“Whatever decision I will give, the punishment I will mete out, all because I want you to turn your life around to become a useful human being.
“I want you to learn something from the lengthy prison time that when you finally leave the prison, you will no longer repeat the mistakes, particularly, drugs as they are the source of other problems,” said Emelia Kaswati who ordered the accused to serve his sentence from the date of the arrest on Jan 6.
Muhd Rafiq Dinie, who looked calm, nodded his head, Bernama reported.
According to the charge sheet, the accused was alleged to have deliberately cause serious injury to the 17-year-old victim, by using a crash helmet as a weapon that could lead to death.
He committed the offence at a house in Persiaran Lemak, Taman Segar, Cheras, here between 3am and 6am, on Jan 5 and was charged under Section 326 of the Penal Code which provides for imprisonment of up to 20 years and shall be liable to a fine or whipping, upon conviction.
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