KUALA LUMPUR: A 31-year-old man has been sentenced by a Magistrate's Court here to five months in prison and a RM2,000 fine after he pleaded guilty to criminally intimidating the ex-wife of comedian and actor Harith Iskander via text message.
Magistrate S. Mageswary ordered Izzuddin Md Salim to serve his sentence from the date of his arrest, Jan 24, and another month in jail if he fails to pay the fine.
According to the charge sheet, the accused had sent a WhatsApp message with a photo that contained threatening words which meant that he would commit rape and murder, and the message was received by Dr Jezamine Lim, whereby the action of the accused was criminally intimidating.
The WhatsApp content was then read by Lim, who is Harith's ex-wife, at a restaurant here at 8.50am on Jan 23.
The charge under Section 506 of the Penal Code provides a maximum of seven years in jail or a fine or both, upon conviction.
After the accused entered his guilty plea, the statement of facts was read out to him.
Magistrate Mageswary then asked Izzuddin if he would confirm the statement of facts in the case.
The accused agreed that the facts were correct.
"Correct, my intention was only to play his (Harith's) emotions. I have no other intention," Izzuddin said.
Earlier, lawyer Qurratu Aini Zafirah Mat Shoib from the National Legal Aid Foundation (YBGK) who represented the accused pleaded for a lenient sentence as the accused had pleaded guilty and remorseful over his actions.
The accused also told the court he was sorry and would not repeat his offence.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Sabri Othman asked the court to mete out a heavy sentence as a lesson not only to the accused, but also to the public in general.
"The accused's excuse that he had only wanted to 'play with emotions' is unreasonable.
"The words he had used showed that something bad would befall the complainant's sons," DPP Mohd Sabri said.
Magistrate Mageswary reprimanded Izzuddin over his actions of 'playfully' sending threats.
Magistrate Mageswary: How would you feel if your own child is at the receiving end?
Izzuddin: I would feel angry and scared.
According to the statement of facts, the threatening words were typed and sent by Izzuddin to a company phone number after he made a search on Google.
Izzuddin's phone number was a match to the number on the WhatsApp message received by the complainant.
The same message, initially available on the accused's phone, had been deleted by him.
Meanwhile, when met at the court complex, Harith said he respected the court's decision and described the apology by the accused as being directed to the magistrate instead of him.
"To me, it has nothing to do with me because he was talking to the judge (magistrate)," Harith said.
Lim, who was teary-eyed, declined to comment.
