A lawyer successfully sought reduction for his client's sentence in an appeal, where the client was charged with theft and attempted theft from a place of worship.

The defendant, Mohammad Amli bin Haji Matahir, was unrepresented in the Intermediate Court and pleaded guilty to the two offences on April 28, 2016 in which he received 12 months' jail and a whipping for the attempted theft, and 18 months jail and two strokes of the cane for the theft.

The Intermediate Court Judge ordered eight months from the attempted theft charge to be served consecutively to the 18 months on the theft charge, making a total of 26 months with the strokes to be cumulative, totalling to three whips of the cane.

President of the Court of Appeal, Justice John Barry Mortimer, sitting with Justices Burrell and Seagroatt, found that the individual sentences to be appropriate and reflected the seriousness of the offence of theft from a place of worship and the fact that the dishonest act was committed twice.

However, lawyer Rozaiman Abdul Rahman hired to represent Mohammad Amli bin Haji Matahir at the appeal, successfully invoked the appellate court to accept that the mitigation stemming from Mohammad Amli's family circumstances makes it an exceptional case enabling the court to exercise a degree of compassion, in which the sentencing judge was deprived of most of the mitigating information when Muhammad Amli was unrepresented.

The Court of Appeal revised the sentence in its totality principle and arrived to an order of a total of 18 months imprisonment with two strokes by cane.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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