Justice Roslan Mat Nor reduced Nguyen Van Tien’s jail term after stating that he had already been slapped with a hefty RM300,000 fine for keeping 54 leopard parts last year.

The judge also said the lower court failed to take into consideration Nguyen’s plea for a reduced jail term during mitigation.

Nguyen faced a charge under Section 68(1)(b) of the Wildlife Conservation Act for keeping the parts of the leopard, which is a protected species.

He pleaded guilty before the Temerloh sessions court on Feb 24 and was handed a four-year jail term and a RM300,000 fine. Nguyen was to serve another four years if he failed to pay the RM300,000 fine.

Roslan maintained the fine against Nguyen but reduced to two years the punishment if he failed to settle the fine.

He added that failure to settle a fine must not be used as a reason to extend a person’s custodial sentence.

“It would be in breach of the principles of fairness,” he said.