KOTA KINABALU: A German man has been jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to illegally entering Sabah and obstructing an immigration officer in the course of duty.
Sessions Court judge Hurman Hussain handed down the sentence on Monday (Sept 14) after Kuecuekboga Sueleyman changed his plea to guilty midway through the trial, after the prosecution had called three witnesses.
For the first charge, Sueleyman was sentenced to six months’ jail for entering Sabah without valid travel documents under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
The offence was committed at the Immigration Department office in Jalan UMS at 8.50am on April 27.
Judge Hurman imposed another six months’ jail for obstructing an immigration officer by refusing to have his statement recorded during investigations at the Immigration Depot at 4.30pm on May 5.
He was charged under Section 56(1)(g) of the Immigration Act and is punishable under Section 56(1)(aa).
The court ordered both sentences to run consecutively from the date of conviction.
Sueleyman was first charged on June 10, but no plea was recorded as he insisted that he did not understand the charges read to him.
He claimed to only understand German, but even after the charges were explained to him in German by an embassy interpreter, he maintained that he did not understand them.
He then told the court that he would appoint a lawyer.
At a subsequent hearing, he claimed trial to both charges.
