FOUR traditional medicine practitioners, including two individuals known as Wea Selamos and Tok Singa, were sentenced to three years in prison by the Kota Bharu Sessions Court, after being found guilty of beating a lecturer to the point of blinding his left eye in an incident four years ago.
The sentence was handed down by Judge Mohd Zul Zaqikudin Zulkifli against Wea Selamos, whose real name is Mohd Shamsul Izwan Midin, and Tok Singa, or Muhammad Firdaus Mohd Adnan, both aged 37.
The other two accused are Idrees Ishak, 46, and Mohd Eric Mohd Ramli, 39, who also work as traditional medicine practitioners.All of them were found guilty at the end of the trial.
“The court found that the defence of all four accused was mere denial. Therefore, all the accused were found guilty and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with effect from today,” said Mohd Zul Zaqikudin in his decision as reported by Sinar Harian.
They were charged with intentionally causing serious injury to the victim, Ahmad Shahrill ‘Ariff Zainol, 43, resulting in the victim losing his sight permanently in his left eye. The incident occurred at a boarding house on Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, at 4am, August 5, 2021.
The charge was under Section 325 of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum prison sentence of seven years and a fine.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Kamarul Hasyime Rosli, while all the accused were represented by Mohd Azrul Hasyimi Mohamad.
According to Mohd Azrul, the incident stemmed from allegations that the victim was performing traditional treatment that was contrary to Islamic teachings.
“All the accused are traditional healers who are trying to help the community, but the victim is said to be practicing treatment methods that are not in line with Islam,” he said.
During the proceedings, all the accused applied for a stay of execution to file an appeal.
The court granted the stay of execution on the condition that the appeal be filed immediately and that the bail be increased from RM3,000 to RM5,000 for each accused.
All the accused were released after posting bail. - June 22, 2025
