The Klang Sessions Court today sentenced 18 men to six days’ jail and fined RM1,000 each, in default of three months’ jail, for defying the movement control order (MCO) by attending a friend’s funeral last Thursday.
Judge Tasnim Abu Bakar handed down the sentence after all of them, who are aged 19 and 53, pleaded guilty to the charge.
They are K Veeran, P Thanasegaran, J Arvinthan, C Sangkar, M Prabahkaran, J Johnpeter, A Kalaiselvan, S Surendren, N Rubes, M Selvaraju, M Paremesvaren, R Logaarajan, M Devan, A Prakash, S Rubendran, S Santhakumar, S Parthiban and L Premkumar.
Two juveniles aged 15 and 17 years who were at the funeral also pleaded guilty to the charge. The court set June 18 for sentencing pending their behaviour report from the Social Welfare Department.
They were jointly charged with being in an infected area without reasonable cause or the permission of a police officer at the Klang police station by gathering at a cemetery in Jalan Keretapi Lama at 2pm on April 16.
In doing so, they had flouted Regulation 6 (1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020, which is being enforced under the MCO.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Afiq Zuber requested the court to impose a deterrent sentence as a lesson for them as their action in gathering at the funeral went viral on social media and became a public interest.
In the same court, another four individuals, including two aged 17, pleaded guilty to defying the MCO by moving from one place to another in an area of infection without a valid reason in front of a house in Taman Ku Kapar at 1.20 pm on April 16.
S Legesferan, 18, and L Thervendran, 21, were fined RM1,000 each, in default of three months’ jail, while the two 17-year-old will be sentenced on June 18 pending their probation report.