High Court upholds 5-year sentence on businessman who assaulted bodyguards for fasting

Chung Chee Yang was sentenced to five years' jail and fined RM22,000 on three counts of criminal intimidation, wounding religious feelings, and voluntarily causing hurt in 2021. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: The Shah Alam High Court has rejected a businessman’s appeal against his conviction and five-year jail sentence for assaulting, threatening, and insulting his bodyguards for fasting in 2021.Justice Shamsulbahri Ibrahim ordered that the sentences for all three offences against Chung Chee Yang, 48, be served concurrently effective today, reported Kosmo.In his judgment, Shamsulbahri said the offences committed by Chung were serious and warranted an appropriate punishment as a lesson.He said the court also wanted to send a clear message that it would not compromise on such offences.“The act of abusing and being violent towards one’s own employees must be completely eradicated so that no similar incidents occur in the future.“Insulting another religion is a disgraceful act, especially by someone who claims to have contributed much to Malaysia’s multiracial society,” he said.Shamsulbahri said there were no reasonable grounds for the court to intervene and alter the sentence imposed by the Klang magistrates’ court last March.He also rejected an application for a stay of sentence made through lawyer Shafee Abdullah, who represented Chung.The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutor Tengku Najiha Zahari.On the first charge brought under Section 506 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation, magistrate Siti Zubaidah Mahat sentenced Chung to five years in prison and fined him RM10,000.On the second charge under Section 298 of the Penal Code for wounding religious feelings, he was sentenced to one year in prison and fined RM10,000.On the third charge under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt, Chung received a 10-month prison sentence and a RM2,000 fine.The offences were committed outside a house in Bandar Bukit Tinggi, Shah Alam, between 9.30pm and 10.30pm on April 13, 2021.