SEREMBAN: A 22-year-old man was sentenced to six months in jail by the Sessions Court here on Friday (April 10) after pleading guilty to a charge of possessing child pornography.
Muhammad Amirul Syafiq Rahmat did not contest the charge after it was read to him before Judge Surita Budin.
The accused, who helps his father run a roti canai stall, was charged with committing the offence around 12.15pm at a traffic light junction along Jalan Besar Pajam on April 6.
He was charged with having more than 590 pieces of pornographic material including other sexually explicit content in his mobile phone.
Amirul Syafiq was charged under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 which carries a jail term not exceeding five years or a fine of not more than RM10,000 or both upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Balkis Zunaidi asked the court to impose a sentence commensurate with the crime.
"The accused not only had the pornographic material in his handphone but was found to have another 8,129 items of pornographic material in two other mobile phones as well as pendrives at his home," she said.
The accused, who was unrepresented, pleaded for a lenient sentence.
Judge Surita also ordered the accused to undergo counselling as well as to remain under police supervision for one year upon his release.
In a separate case, a hotel chef was jailed for five days and fined RM11,500 for a similar offence.
Mohamad Saiful Ashraf Jaafar pleaded guilty after the two charges were read to him before Surita.
For the first, the accused was charged with having six videos of children being sexually abused in a pendrive and for the second, having 23 pornographic images and 100 videos in another pendrive and computer.
He was charged with committing the offence around 11.50pm on April 6 at a house in Port Dickson.
Saiful Ashraf was charged under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 and Section 292 of the Penal Code.
The accused pleaded for a minimal sentence as he had to provide for his wife and a six-month-old son who suffered from a hole in the heart.
Judge Surita sentenced the accused to five days in jail and a fine of RM8,000 in default three months jail for the first charge and a RM3,500 fine in default three months jail for the second.
