KUCHING, Jan 21 — A businesswoman who used the name of the chief minister’s daughter to obtain free admission wristbands to the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) in 2019 was yesterday sentenced to one year and eight months in prison.

Magistrate Syarifah Fatimah Azura Wan Ali meted out the sentence on Safferina Talib, 36, after convicting her on one count of cheating at the end of a full trial which saw seven prosecution witnesses and two defence witnesses called to testify.

The court, however, allowed for a stay of execution following an application filed by defence counsel Jonathan Jalin, and granted the accused cash bail of RM5,000 with one local surety besides ordering her to report to the nearest police station once a month.

Safferina was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of between one and 10 years with whipping, and also liable to a fine.

According to the facts of the case, the accused at around 9.30am on July 13, 2019 approached a supervisor at the entrance of Sarawak Cultural Village where the festival was being held, and introduced herself as a cousin of Dayang Norjihan Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari.

Claiming to represent Dayang Norjihan, the accused asked for free RWMF admission wristbands, but fled when the supervisor requested for her identification document.

Later upon checking the ticketing records, the supervisor found out that another supervisor had the previous day given the accused 20 admission wristbands.

This was after the accused had claimed to have been tasked by Dayang Norjihan to collect the wristbands for free from the festival organiser.

A police report was then lodged over the matter, with investigations revealing that Dayang Norjihan did not know the accused and had never instructed the accused to obtain RWMF wristbands on her behalf.

Prosecuting the case was Inspector Mohd Adzmei Ahmad. — Borneo Post