TAIPING: The two men who were caught fishing during the movement control order (MCO) in Sungai Siput have had their three-month jail term revoked.
Chin Chee Wei, 45, and Chong Poh Wah, 56, will now do community service for three months.
High Court of Taiping Judicial Commissioner K. Muniandy ordered both men to do the community service for four hours daily, to begin after the MCO is lifted.
“This is a reminder to the public not to violate the order.
“Let this be a lesson to everyone, ” he said Wednesday (April 8) after asking the men if they would still go out during MCO.
The two men were sentenced to three months’ jail at the Sungai Siput Magistrate Court earlier this month for defying the MCO.
The case was then brought to the Taiping High Court after National Legal Aid Foundation lawyer Balakrishna Balaravi Pillai, who represented the two men, filed an application to review the decision.
Both men are also required to report themselves to the Sungai Siput district police station every Monday during the MCO.
Balakrishna had argued that both men are first-time offenders and their offence was not serious enough for them to be sent to prison.
He said they had to resort to fishing to feed their family as they were left with no money and no savings.
“Chin has two schooling children and a wife to feed while Chong is the sole breadwinner for his family.
“Both of them are labourers doing odd jobs in Sungai Siput, they were not fishing for trade, ” he said, adding that the men living in a hand-to-mouth situation even before MCO was imposed on March 18.
Deputy Public Persecutor Mohd Azrul Faidz prosecuted.
