Clerk’s appeal in ‘mat lajak’ case to be heard on March 31

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has set March 31 next year to hear clerk Sam Ke Ting’s appeal against her six-year-jail sentence and fine for reckless driving that killed eight teenage cyclists five years ago.

One of her lawyers, Yasmeen Soh Sha-Nisse, when contacted after the case management before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Norkamilah Aziz yesterday, confirmed the date.

She told Bernama the court also ordered both parties to submit their written submissions by March 16 and March 17 for the final case management.

Yesterday’s case management was also attended by Sam’s other lawyers, Harvinderjit Singh and Faizal Mokhtar, while deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari appeared for the prosecution.

On Oct 28, 2018, the Johor Baru Magistrate’s Court freed Sam without calling for her defence over the charge of reckless driving which caused the death of the teenagers at Jalan Lingkaran Dalam, Johor Baru, Johor at 3.20am on Feb 18, 2017.

The eight teenagers killed in the incident were Mohamad Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14; Muhamad Shahrul Izzwan Azzuraimie, 14; Muhammad Firdauz Danish Mohd Azhar, 16; Fauzan Halmijan, 13; Mohamad Azhar Amir, 16; Muhammad Harith Iskandar Abdullah, 14; Muhammad Shahrul Nizam Marudin, 14; and Haizad Kasrin, 16.

In 2019, High Court judge Shahnaz Sulaiman allowed the prosecution’s appeal and remitted the case back to the Magistrate’s Court for Sam to enter her defence on the reckless driving charge.

Magistrate Siti Hajar Ali, who heard the case in 2019, again discharged and acquitted Sam at the end of the defence case, prompting the prosecution to file the second appeal to the High Court.

On April 13, this year, High Court judge Datuk Abu Bakar Katar allowed the prosecution’s appeal and convicted Sam of driving recklessly and sentenced her to six years in jail and a RM6,000 fine.

Sam obtained leave from the Court of Appeal last April 18 to appeal her conviction and jail sentence.