PUTRAJAYA, April 4 — A jobless man will remain in jail for four years for outraging the modesty of a secondary school student five years ago.
This is following a Court of Appeal decision today to deny Muhammad Hafizan Ismail's application to get leave to appeal against his conviction and four years jail sentence imposed on him by the Marang Magistrate's Court in Terengganu.
Since his case originated from the Magistrate's Court, Muhammad Hafizan, 26, is required to first obtain leave before he can be allowed to pursue his appeal in the Court of Appeal under Section 50 (2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
The three-member Court of Appeal panel comprising Justices Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Datuk Wira Ahmad Nasfy Yasin dismissed Muhammad Hafizan's application for leave to appeal after ruling that his application did not have merits.
Muhammad Hafizan was found guilty and sentenced to four years in jail by the Magistrate's Court on December 9, 2020, for molesting the girl who was then 14 years old.
According to the facts of the case, Muhammad Hafizan had pulled the girl into some bushes when she was walking home from school on March 20, 2017.
He lost his appeal in the High Court which was dismissed on December 14 last year.
Muhammad Hafizan's lawyer Muhammad Syahri Adnan argued that there were legal questions for the Court of Appeal to determine.
However, deputy public prosecutor Khairul Aisamuddin Abdul Rahman urged the court to disallow Muhammad Hafizan's leave application saying that there were no legal questions raised by him.
He said the questions of law that were raised by Muhammad Syahri were not legal questions but were more on the finding of facts decided by the High Court judge.
Section 50 (2) of the Courts of Judicature Act states that an appeal against any decision of the High Court in respect of any criminal matter that was decided by a Magistrate's Court would be confined to only questions of law.
— Bernama
