A three-member appeals court bench chaired by Justice Che Ruzima Ghazali ordered Chan Boon Lee, 40, to serve five years in prison and ordered him to be given two strokes of the rotan.
Che Ruzima, who sat with Justices Azmi Ariffin and Azhahari Kamal Ramli, also backdated the jail term to begin from March 20, 2022.
“Based on the facts of the case, the jail term is excessive. We are reducing it to five. However, we are imposing two strokes of the rotan as it is a mandatory requirement under the law,” he said.
Two years ago, a sessions court sentenced Chan to eight years’ jail and ordered that he be caned four times after finding him guilty of the offence.
Last year, a High Court affirmed both the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court.
It was revealed that Chan conducted the trial himself after dismissing his counsel.
Today, having gone through the notes of evidence recorded at trial, the bench affirmed his conviction, saying it was safe.
“Evidence by one of the Thai women is more than sufficient for the prosecution to prove that the appellant had committed the offence,” said Che Ruzima.
The appeals court also dismissed the submissions by Chan’s present lawyer, Sukri Mohamed, that the conviction must be set aside as the prosecution had allegedly presented inadmissible evidence, including statements from three women who had since returned home.
Sukri’s contention that the charge against his client was defective was also rejected by the three-member panel.
Chan was convicted for the offence, committed at an apartment in Kota Bharu at 11.30pm on Jan 15, 2021.
The charge is framed under Section 372A of the Penal Code which states it is an offence for any person who knowingly lives wholly or in part on earnings derived from the prostitution of another person.
Those convicted can be jailed up to 15 years and whipped, and may also be liable to a fine.
Deputy public prosecutor Eyu Ghim Siang submitted that the Court of Appeal should not be hasty in disturbing the concurrent findings of the two lower courts.
He said police had observed activities on the day of the incident before arresting Chan who was at the apartment.
Eyu said there were eight Bangladeshi men with the women at the apartment.
“The appellant was responsible for looking for clients for the women,” he said, adding that police also found condoms and RM1,300 in cash at the dining hall when the raid was conducted.