BATU PAHAT: "I am requesting to be jailed in Bentong, which is near my family."
That was the plea of a barber before the magistrate's court sentenced him to two years jail after pleading guilty to violating the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca) in February.
Mohd Shah Hafizfudin Mohd, 28, who is a widower with three children made the plea after the charge was read to him by a court interpreter in front of Magistrate Suhaila Shafi'uddin.
Based on the charge, he disappeared and violated the terms imposed on him as a person under police supervision under Section 15 of Prevention of Crime Act.
He did this by disappearing and violating the terms by going out of his house in Jalan Mustafa, here, without permission from the Batu Pahat district police chief.
The terms imposed were for him to remain at home between 8am and 6am. He is charged under Section 15(2)(f) of the act and penalised under Section 15(4) of the same act, with a jail term of up to 10 years.
Mohd Shah was previously sentenced to 18 months and 15 days in jail after being found guilty for involvement in a robbery at a shop last year.
The facts of case stated that a police team went to the house at 1am and did not find Mohd Shah there, as it was believed that he had escaped.
The police returned to the same house at 4.40am and he was still not there. A report was lodged on Feb 16 this year.
Acting upon the report, the police detained Mohd Shah on Sept 26 and he was brought to the police station for investigation.
Deputy public prosecutor Farah Wahidah Mohd Sharip prosecuted, while Mohd Shah was represented by Haryanti Othman from the National Legal Aid Foundation.
Earlier, the prosecution urged the court to mete out an appropriate punishment because the accused acted without remorse and violated the terms imposed upon him.
The court sentenced him to two years jail starting from his arrest on Sept 26. The court also agreed to his appeal to be jailed in Bentong.