Spare our faces: The three men being escorted by police for their court appearance. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Pulling up their T-shirts to cover their faces as they were produced in court, three assistant marketing executives claimed trial to injuring a lawyer with a metal rod at a Magistrate’s Court here.
The trio were charged with voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon in an incident that took place in broad daylight in October.
Koay Beng Ghee and Teh Eng Tat, both 36, and Ng Weng Kooi, 41, pleaded not guilty to the charge read before magistrate Nadratun Naim Mohd Saidi.
Each accused mouthed “tak salah” (not guilty) when asked to state their plea after they were read the charge sheet.
They were jointly charged with injuring Beh Hong Shien, 37, on Oct 22 at 9.50am on Persiaran Karpal Singh, along with another attacker still at large.
They were charged under Section 324 of the Penal Code, read with Section 109 of the same law, and the offence is punishable with imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine or whipping, or any of the two.
Deputy public prosecutor M. Darrshini prosecuted the case while the trio were represented by counsel Md Yusuf Md Idris.
Lawyer RSN Rayer held a watching brief for the victim.
Darrshini urged the court to set bail at RM9,000 for each of the accused.
“We request the court to set an additional condition that the accused not approach the victim or any of the prosecution witnesses,” she said.
In mitigation, Md Yusuf told the court that each of his clients only earned about RM2,000 a month and were sole breadwinners of their families.
“Taking into account their social and economic standing, the RM9,000 bail proposed by the prosecution is too high and they may not be able to afford it,” he said.
He then proposed bail be set at RM3,000.
Rayer, who is also Jelutong MP, told the court that this was a serious case as it involved an attack on a lawyer in broad daylight.
He said as an elected representative, he has raised this matter in Dewan Rakyat.
“There have been at least five or six murder cases involving lawyers in Penang, which have gone unsolved,” he said.
Md Yusuf, in response, cited Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the law.
He urged the court not to take into consideration that the victim was a lawyer.
“My clients will prove their innocence in court. They will prove that they were not at the scene,” he said.
Nadratun set bail at RM7,000 with one surety each and fixed Jan 13 for case mention.
She ordered the accused not to approach the victim and the prosecution witnesses.
On Oct 26, it was reported that the police had initiated a probe into a violent attack on a 37-year-old lawyer earlier that week.
