Bernama
Monday, September 02, 2013
Three Somalia nationals were sentenced to 10 years' jail each, while
four others to eight years imprisonment by the High Court here today
after they pleaded guilty to firing at Malaysian soldiers in the Gulf of
Aden two years ago.
Judge Datuk Mohd Azman Husin handed down the 10 year-jail on Ahmed
Othman Jamal, 30, Abdil Eid Hasan, 22, and Abdi Hakim Mohd Abdi, 22.
The four Somalis who were sentenced to eight years' jail were
underage individuals. He ordered all of them to serve the jail sentence
from the date of their arrest on Jan 20, 2011. The charge against them
was read in English and translated into Somali.
When handing down the decision, Mohd Azman said the court took into
account their guilty plea, background, threat to the world community and
other factors, and found the jail sentence meted on all the accused,
including the juveniles, was apt.
All the accused were seen smiling after Mohd Azman handed down the sentence.
The Somalis were initially charged under Section 3 of the Firearms
(Increased Penalties) Act 1971 with discharging firearms with intent to
cause death or hurt on the Malaysian soldiers during a robbery onboard
Bunga Laurel vessel.
The charge provides for the death sentence upon conviction. However,
the charge was amended today and all of them, including a few others who
are still at large, were charged with discharging firearms at the
Malaysian soldiers to avoid them from being lawfully arrested by the
Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM).
The offence was committed on board the Bunga Laurel vessel at 250
nautical miles of Oman between 8.10 and 10pm on Jan 20, 2011. The
charge, under Section 32(1)(a) of the Arms Act 1960, read together with
Section 34 of the Penal Code, which carries a life imprisonment or for a
term not exceeding 14 years.
Today, the case was fixed for hearing, but the prosecution, headed by
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas amended the
charge against all the accused after discussing the matter with the
defence counsel.
Meanwhile, in mitigation, lawyer Imran Hadzalie Abdul Hamid,
representing Ahmed Othman, Abdi Hakim and an underage accused, said his
clients had extended their full cooperation during investigation of the
case.
Lawyer Edmund Bon, representing another of the underage individual,
said the court should consider the accused guilty plea and that none of
the Malaysian soldiers were injured. However, Mohamad Abazafree asked
for a heavy sentence as the offence was a serious one.
"Based on the facts of the case, all the accused were arrested while
attempting to rob the Bunga Laurel vessel in the Gulf of Aden. They were
not normal robbers, but a group of pirates who was in the gulf, an area
known for pirate attacks on merchant vessels.
"They also used firearms to attack ATM and attempted to capture the crew on board," he added.
Citing the 'Reports on Acts of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships
-Annual Report 2011', Mohamad Abazafree said there were 286 incidents
reported.
He said Malaysia was not the only country to detain and brought back
the pirates to be tried as the Somali pirates had been prosecuted in
several other countries, including South Korea, Holland, United States
of America and Kenya.
According to the facts of the case, all the accused were in a small
boat, which then approached Bunga Laurel with an intention to rob the
vessel, but their action was discovered by an officer-in-charge who saw,
through a binoculars, one of the pirates getting into the vessel.
The assault on the pirates was carried out from the Royal Malaysian
Navy (RMN) Bunga Mas 5 vessel and the team won over possession of Bunga
Laurel, within two hours after it was hijacked by the Somali pirates.
Following a search, the RMN found several firearms, including two
AK47 rifles, a pistol, more than 150 rounds of ammunition, hammer and a
ladder used to climb into Bunga Laurel.
The prosecution team also comprised deputy public prosecutors Yusaini
Amer Abdul Karim and Lailawati Ali, while other lawyers representing
the accused were Lee Teong Hui, Saha Devan A.Arunasalam and Ameenudin
Ibrahim