The lawyer said it was left to the discretion of then AG Tommy Thomas whether to challenge Sam’s acquittal. Thomas was AG from 2018 to 2020.

“There was enough doubt raised (in the prosecution’s case) by the defence from what I read.

“We can’t comment (whether it was right or wrong) over his discretion,” Ramkarpal said after attending Sam’s bail application hearing in the Court of Appeal today.

The Johor Bahru magistrates’ court had on Oct 28, 2019 freed Sam over the charge of driving recklessly and causing the death of eight teenagers, who were riding the modified bicycles at 3.20am on Feb 18, 2017.

Aggrieved by her acquittal, the deputy public prosecutor’s office in Johor then filed an appeal. Subsequently, High Court judicial commission Shahnaz Sulaiman ordered Sam to answer the charge under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act.

Magistrate Siti Hajar Ali, who previously heard the prosecution’s case in 2019, again freed her of the charge last year, adding that the prosecution had not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The prosecution then filed its second appeal against Sam, and High Court judge Abu Bakar Katar granted the prosecution’s appeal and convicted her of driving recklessly on April 13.

He sentenced Sam to six years in prison and fined her RM6,000, in default six months’ jail. He refused bail and Sam was sent to prison to begin her sentence.

This morning, the Court of Appeal freed Sam on bail of RM10,000 in one surety and granted her leave to appeal against her conviction and sentence.