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PUTRAJAYA: A woman began her eight-year prison sentence today for physically abusing her young Indonesian servant after failing her final appeal in the Court of Appeal.
Rozita Mohd Ali, 46, has been out on bail of RM25,000 since May 2018 after her prison sentence was suspended pending the resolution of her case.
A three-member court, chaired by Kamaludin Md Said, ruled today that the High Court was correct in imposing the prison sentence, as that was the current trend of sentencing for such crimes.
“In fact, there have been cases of accused persons who were imprisoned for up to 20 years for willfully causing serious injuries under Section 326 of the Penal Code,” he said, dismissing Rozita’s appeal.
Kamaludin said that Supreme Court Justice Tun Majid Tun Hamzah was also right to impose a prison sentence instead of releasing her on good conduct bail.
He said the Superior Court had the power to review the case rather than wait for the prosecution to appeal the matter from the Sessions Court.
The appeals court also dismissed the prosecution’s appeal to improve Rozita’s jail sentence.
Seated with Kamaludin were Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Nordin Hassan.
Rozita pleaded guilty in Court of Sessions on March 15, 2018 to a misdemeanor charge of causing serious harm to Indonesian maid Suyanti Sutrinso, 19, with a knife, mop, hanger, iron bar, A cat toy and an umbrella at a house in Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, on June 21, 2016.
A video of Suyanti, seriously injured and lying near a drain in a housing area in Mutiara Damansara, went viral in December 2016.
The Session Court Judge, Mohammed Mokhzani Mokhtar, released Rozita on a good conduct bond for five years with a bond of RM20,000.
However, this sparked outrage among the public, with an online petition against the ruling attracting more than 70,000 signatures.
Attorney Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla represented Rozita, while Assistant Prosecutors Ku Hayati Ku Haron and Nurul Farhana Khalid appeared for the indictment.
