Teen ‘bathed like corpse’ incident: No comment as case now under the courts, says Deputy IGP

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Razarudin Husain (second right), witnessing the handover ceremony of Johor police chief post from acting Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Khaw Kok Chin (left) to Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat (right).

JOHOR BARU: The police have finished their investigations into the case of a 19-year-old who attempted to steal money from a mosque, and any further decision will be made by the Shah Alam High Court, says Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Razarudin Husain.

He added that the police could no longer give their views on the matter as the case had already been prosecuted at the Selayang Magistrate Court in Selangor last Thursday (Jan 13).

"The Shah Alam High Court will be revising the decision imposed (on the suspect) and I cannot make any comment on the matter.

"Our investigations have already been conducted and the teenager involved in the case has already been prosecuted for stealing money from a mosque donation box," he said.

He said this during a press conference after a handing-over ceremony for the Johor police chief’s post at the state police headquarters, here on Sunday (Jan 16).

Earlier, it was reported that the Shah Alam High Court would review the decision imposed by a lower court in sentencing a teenager to 10 days’ imprisonment and an RM4,000 fine for attempting to steal money from a mosque donation box.

The hearing to revise the decision of the Selayang Magistrate's Court that meted out the sentence on Daniel Iskandar, 19, has been set for Jan 17 (Monday) at the Shah Alam High Court.

Lawyer Azman Abdullah, who represented Daniel, requested leniency on the grounds that this was his client's first offence and he had repented.

"My client has apologised to the court and the mosque. The reason he did it (tried to steal) was because he needed money to buy medicine for his grandfather who is diabetic. He tried to ask people, but they couldn’t help him," he said.

Azman said although it was wrong for the accused to steal, the action of the parties who took the video and spread it on social media was not appropriate, as it had put unnecessary pressure on the accused and his family.

A video of Daniel being bathed in the manner of a corpse by mosque authorities had been uploaded to social media, where it went viral.