SEREMBAN: A 20-year-old delivery rider was fined RM5,000 by the Sessions Court here after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of possessing pornographic material in his handphone.
Judge Surita Budin ordered Muhammad Syahir Ikhwan Jamaludin to serve five months in jail in the event he was unable to pay the fine.
He was charged with having pornographic videos and images on his mobile phone around 2.30pm on Sept 3, 2023.
The accused allegedly committed the offences along a road in a residential area in Port Dickson.
He was charged under section 292(a) of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of up to three years or a fine or both.
Muhammad Syahir had initially been charged under Section 5 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for having pornographic material of a 14-year-old girl on his mobile phone.
He had claimed trial to the charge.
The offence carried a jail term of up to 30 years and not less than six strokes of the cane upon conviction.
In mitigation, lawyer for the accused Joseph Mathews asked for a minimum sentence as Muhammad Syahir had saved the court time by pleading guilty.
"It cannot be denied that the accused did commit an offence but if the aim is to rehabilitate him, then a custodial sentence is not appropriate.
"Also, if he is jailed, then he will forever have this stigma of having been sent to jail," he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Balkis Zunaidi urged the court to impose a sentence
which commensurates the offence due to the seriousness of the offence.
An officer from the Welfare Department then tabled a social report and recommended that the accused is not sent to jail.
