Fish delivery worker gets 6 months for insulting police force

Fish delivery worker gets 6 months for insulting police force

He thanks judge for imposing 'short sentence' for his Facebook comments on the death of two cops in accident.

Mohd Hannan Ibrahim, 27, pleaded guilty to insulting the police force through his Facebook post. (Bernama pic)
KUANTAN:
The Sessions Court here today meted out six months’ jail to a fish delivery worker for posting offensive comments regarding the death of two policemen in an accident at the East Coast Expressway (LPT) on Tuesday.

Judge Siti Aminah Ghazali handed down the sentence to Mohd Hannan Ibrahim, 27, from Kampung Parit Tengah, Pekan, after he pleaded guilty to the charge.

The court ordered him to serve the jail term from the date of his arrest, which was Oct 23.

The accused was charged with using his Facebook account to write an insulting comment on a posting in the “Komuniti Kuantan” site about the death of the two policemen at 5.30pm on Oct 23.

The act was done using his Samsung Galaxy J2 Prime smartphone with the intention of annoying others.

He was charged under Section 233 (1) (a) (i) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 which carries a maximum fine of RM50,000 or imprisonment for a year or both, upon conviction.

The two cops were killed while escorting SPM exam papers when their patrol car crashed into the guardrail of the East Coast Expressway near Maran on Tuesday. (Bernama pic)

During mitigation, Hannan, who was unrepresented, appealed to the court for a short imprisonment on grounds that he was only a labourer who delivered Patin fish from Pekan to Temerloh with a monthly income of RM1,600.

“I appeal for a brief imprisonment as I have to support my parents and a nephew. My mother is ill and I have to care for her,” he said and later thanked the judge for the short prison sentence.

Deputy public prosecutor Fatimah Abu Bakar had urged the court to impose an appropriate punishment to serve as a lesson to the accused and the public to be more cautious in their actions on social sites.

“His action of writing the offensive comment on the posting not only angered the people serving in the police force but also saddened the victims’ families,” she said.

Sergeant Major Roslan Maon, 50, and Constable Watson Edin, 23, were killed after their patrol car skidded and crashed into a metal guardrail at KM183 of the LPT near Maran.

They were escorting vehicles transporting Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination papers from Bentong to Kuantan when the accident occurred at 3.20pm.

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