TAMPIN: A 46-year-old man with a previous conviction for assaulting his wife was sentenced by the Magistrate's Court here to serve 12 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to repeating the offence.
Magistrate Kartini Kasran also fined S Ragubalan RM1,000 in default three months' jail here on Monday (July 3).
Ragubalan was charged with voluntarily causing hurt to his 41-year-old wife by punching her in the face and hitting her head against the floor at a house in Taman Molek, Gemas at around 9.15am on April 24.
The victim sustained injuries to her face, forehead and neck as a result.
Ragubalan was charged under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt, punishable under Section 326A of the same legislation.
Offenders can be jailed up to a year or fined up to RM2,000 or both upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Yap Tsu Sheng then told the court that the accused had been charged for a similar offence at the same court last November.
Then, the court had ordered him to serve one day in jail and to pay a RM1,500 fine.
"The accused committed the act again after... the first offence.
"This also goes to show that he had not learnt from the earlier punishment," he said.
Yap urged the court to impose a longer custodial sentence so that Ragubalan would repent.
This would also send a message to the public as the number of domestic violence cases have been increasing, he added.
Ragubalan, who was unrepresented, appealed for a light sentence as he had to provide for his five children.
He also told the court that he was a diabetic and had recently undergone a medical procedure on his foot.
