GEORGE TOWN – A former councillor with the Penang Island Municipal Council (MBPP) has been acquitted of molesting a woman after the Penang High Court today accepted his appeal against an earlier conviction.
Judge Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid made the decision against the accused, L. Prem Anand, 54, after finding that the magistrates’ court did not evaluate the case comprehensively and only looked at it from a certain angle.
“The magistrate had wrongly pointed to the problem of criminal force used against the victim because there was doubt as to whether the criminal force used actually existed,” he said.
He added that the magistrate had also failed to convince with whole facts but had selected only a few in the discovery of the facts related to the case.
In 2019, Prem, who was also previously a special officer to a DAP assemblyman, was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined RM7,000 by the magistrates’ court after being found guilty of molesting a woman in 2017.
Prem was charged with using criminal force with intent to violate the honour of a woman who was then 21 years old in the parking lot of an entertainment centre on Beach Street at 11.30pm on July 6, 2017.
He was charged under Section 354 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to 10 years, a fine, whipping, or two of any of those punishments if convicted.
Meanwhile, when met after the high court decision, Prem appeared happy with the decision, which also found him innocent.
“It’s a long journey for me. For four years I struggled to prove myself innocent.
"Finally, I am happy when the results have proven the truth, thanks to my lawyers,” he said.
Prem was represented by S. Gnasegaran, Audrey Wee, J.T Jothi, and S. Rethinakumar. The prosecution was handled by Yazid Mustaqim Roslan. – The Vibes, September 30, 2021
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