SHAH ALAM: A private university student was jailed 7 days and fined RM800 for defying the movement control order (MCO) to present a cake which she had baked to her boyfriend.
Magistrate Ellyna Othman ordered the 22-year-old to serve the jail term from the date of arrest on April 18.
She also ordered the woman to serve two months' jail if she failed to pay the fine.
Meanwhile, the woman's boyfriend, also 22, was fined RM1,000 or two months' jail for defying the MCO and driving all the way from his home to receive his cake.
Both of them pleaded guilty after the charges were read out separately.
They committed the offence at Jalan SP1/8, Subang Perdana here about 9pm on April 18.
According to the facts of the case, police found them seated in a car which was parked along the road shoulder.
The woman later told police she had left her home, which was about 800-metres from where the couple were detained, to present the cake to her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend, who had driven 8km to receive his present, was seen eating the cake when police confronted the couple.
The couple's lawyer, Shalehhuddin Salam, pleaded for a lenient sentence after informing the magistrate that it was his client's first offence.
He said both accused did not intend to defy the MCO but were caught up by circumstances.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nur Syazwanie Marizan pressed for a stiff sentence, arguing that the accused must be taught a lesson while the people reminded that they should not take the MCO lightly.
"The female accused gave an absolutely unreasonable excuse for defying the MCO. She left her house to meet her boyfriend and give him a cake which she had baked.
"The people must be reminded that they cannot simply defy the MCO as it could lead to new clusters of Covid-19 emerging," she said.