BALIK PULAU: An engineer was fined a total of RM6,000 by the magistrate's court here today after he pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography video and possession of obscene videos on Monday.
Magistrate Chia Huey Ting fined Koay Lian San, 45, to RM4,000 fine in default of six months' jail for the first offence of possession of child pornography video and RM2,000 fine in default of two months' jail for the second offence of possession of obscene videos in his home computer.
"After taking into consideration your guilty plea and the facts of the case, the court fines you RM4,000, in default of six months' jail for the first offence and RM2,000, in default of three months' jail for the second offence.
"All seized items in the case will be disposed of after the appeal process," she said.
Koay admitted to committing the offences at his house in Taman Sungai Ara about 9.20pm on Dec 23.
The first offence was framed under the Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act, which carries a maximum penalty of five-year imprisonment and RM10,000 fine.
The second offence was framed under Section 292 (a) of the Penal Code for, which carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment, a fine, or both upon conviction.
Earlier in mitigation, Koay, through a National Legal Aid Foundation, told the court that he works as an engineer earning RM4,500 monthly.
He has a wife and two children, apart from his mother, to care for.
"His guilty plea has saved the court's time.
"He also apologised for his mistakes and asked the court to impose a minimal fine," she said.
Deputy Public Prosecutor R. Lushani urged the court to impose an appropriate punishment to serve as a deterrent.
On Tuesday, an engineer who was arrested the night before for possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) had been remanded for four days.
Police found a hoard of pornographic material, some suspected to be CASM, during a raid on the engineer's home in an affluent Bayan Lepas neighbourhood.
The raid at the house was part of "Op Pedo Bersepadu PDRM-MCMC" - spearheaded by federal police's Sexual, Women, and Child Investigations Division (D11) in cooperation with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) - to nab those suspected of possessing and distributing CSAM.
It involved a series of coordinated raids across six states, namely, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, Terengganu, Penang and Perak.
Last week, the New Straits Times ran a series of reports on the rampant sale of Malaysian-made explicit content, including CSAM, on social media and messaging platforms.
The NST's investigation also showed how CSAM content was being sold for as cheap as RM1 per video, raising concerns among parents over the safety of their children.