Grass-cutter Gets Eight Months' Jail For Slashing Policeman

KUANTAN, Aug 8 (Bernama) -- A grass-cutter was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty in the Magistrate's Court here today to injuring a police corporal with a machete last Saturday.

Magistrate Ellyna Othman passed the sentence on Muhamad Firdaus Abdul Hamid, 37, and ordered his jail term to start from the date of his arrest on Aug 2.

Muhammad Firdaus was charged with intentionally causing harm to Corporal Muhammad Shafril Izzwan Ismail, 37, using a machete and two smaller machetes, which could have caused death. The incident occurred on Aug 2 at 5.15 pm in front of a house in Felda Bukit Kuantan.

The charge was framed under Section 324 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment, a fine, or whipping, or any combination of these upon conviction.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Firdaus Ahmad Mokhlis urged the court to impose a fitting sentence, considering the public interest and to deter the accused from repeating the offence.

Defence counsel Mohd Azlan Mohd Arish@Arshad, from the National Legal Aid Foundation (YBGK), informed that the accused is single and earns RM70 a day.

Earlier reports indicated that Corporal Shafril Izzwan was attacked with a machete, sustaining injuries to his back, chin, and left hand, by a man believed to be mentally unstable. The incident took place when police responded to a report of a man causing a disturbance while armed with a machete.

-- BERNAMA