SIBU, Jan 3 — The Magistrates’ Court here today fined a lorry driver RM4,000 in default two months’ jail for threatening singer Nor Ashima Ramli, also known as Baby Shima, on social media.
Mel Maxpherson Munded, 35, who did not have legal counsel, was released after settling the fine.
He was convicted on his own guilty plea to a charge of criminal intimidation under Section 506 of the Penal Code.
The Section provides for a maximum seven-year imprisonment term, or a fine, or both upon conviction.
Prior to sentencing, Mel told the court he was unaware that his posts were an offence as he was under the influence of alcohol at the time.
In mitigation, he asked for leniency as this was his first offence and pointed out that he is the sole breadwinner of the family and takes care of his aged mother.
Magistrate Oon Kork Chern passed the sentence after accepting Mel’s plea of guilt and taking note of his mitigation and the nature of the offence.
According to the charge, Mel criminally intimidated the singer by threatening to kill her with the intent to cause alarm to her on Dec 30.
Based on the facts of the case, while the singer was at a hotel in Sibu around 11pm on December 30, she was going through her social media page when she came across a comment from Mel stating “Lagi u masuk Sarawak!! Hati-hati your enemy m u sudah. Jangan pulang melaya dengan mayat saja!! Take care baby shima.”
This led Baby Shima to file a police report, which led to Mel’s arrest on December 31 at 9.15pm at the Kota Sentosa police station.
Prosecuting officer Siti Mariyah Dahari appeared for the prosecution. — The Borneo Post
