Magistrate Ti Pei Si found Gunalan Ayaduray guilty of a charge under Section 15(2)(f) of the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 for failing to comply with a police restriction order requiring him to stay indoors at night.

Ti said the order to place Gunalan under indoor restriction was valid and not set aside by the higher courts.

Gunalan was given the restriction order on May 30, 2018 by the Crime Prevention Board, and placed at a registered flat unit in Mentakab.

He was previously detained at a rehabilitation centre in Bentong from Aug 29, 2017.

The order was subsequently amended to place him under restricted residence.

Gunalan was detained on grounds that he was linked to certain robbery offences.

Under the order, he was required to stay indoors from 8pm to 6am and could not leave the district without written approval from the Pahang police.

He was required to report to the Mentakab police station twice a week until the order lapsed.

However, he was found not to be at home on March 6, 2019 when officer Bijuri Abdullah from the Mentakab police station conducted a spot check.

Gunalan was subsequently arrested.

In his defence, Gunalan testified that he left the flat in the morning to chase after his girlfriend who had taken his handphone following an argument.

He told the court that when he returned to the flat in the afternoon, he felt sick and went to the shops downstairs to buy some painkillers.

Gunalan said a neighbour had offered him a place to rest and that he had slept there until the next day.

The defence argued that Gunalan’s detention order was “unconstitutional” as he was never produced before a magistrate.