Three persons who assaulted Sri Lankan envoy at Kuala Lumpur airport fined

Three persons were fined a total of Malaysian ringgit RM 9,500 each after they pleaded guilty to four charges, including assaulting the then Sri Lankan envoy to Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA ) two years ago.

Malaysia's Sepang Sessions Court judge Saiful Akmal Md Said fined A Kalaimughilan, V Balamurugan and V Ragunathan RM2,500 for participating in an unlawful assembly.

They were also fined RM3,000 for committing mischief and damaging Ibrahim Sahib Ansar’s spectacles. They were also fined RM1,000 for assaulting Ibrahim and another RM3,000 for rioting at the KLIA airport.

The three men committed the offence at level 3 of the airport in Sepang at 3pm on Sept 4, 2016. In mitigation, counsel M Manoharan asked for a lighter sentence as his clients had saved the court’s time and resources by pleading guilty.

“They had also given their full cooperation to the police during investigation,” he added. Manoharan said the three did not cause any damage to public property or any other injuries to anyone else. “The victim too did not suffer serious injuries and only received out-patient treatment,” he said.

Deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Ahmad urged the court to impose a sentence that reflected the seriousness of the crime as the incident took place at the airport. All three men paid their fines.

Last year, Ibrahim’s request to shift the trial from the Sepang court to Kuala Lumpur on security grounds was dismissed. High Court judge Nordin Hassan said the grounds raised in the application pertained to law and order.

“The applicant and witnesses could complain to the trial judge and law enforcement agency if they are unhappy about a crowd outside the Sepang court,” he said. Nordin said the same crowd could be in Kuala Lumpur if the trial venue were to be shifted.

The attack on the envoy was related to the protest against the presence of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa at an international conference in Kuala Lumpur. (Free Malaysia Today)