Court rejects Farid Kamil's application to appeal against verdict, fine

PUTRAJAYA: Actor-cum-director Farid Kamil Zahari today failed to get permission to appeal against his conviction and fine of RM5,000 for using criminal force to deter a policeman from discharging his duty and uttering improper words in a police station, four years ago.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal led by Datuk Hanipah Farikullah unanimously rejected the application of Farid Kamil, 40, as the applicant for leave to appeal to set aside the conviction and sentence handed down by the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 23, 2021.

"The court found that the question of law submitted by the defendant was irrelevant. Therefore, the defendant's application had no merit and was rejected by the court," said Judge Hanipah who sat with Datuk Wira Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali.

On June 2, 2020, the Petaling Jaya Magistrate's Court sentenced Farid Kamil to 13 months' jail for using criminal force against Constable Muhammad Nizam Jamaluddin at the Kota Damansara traffic police station inquiry counter here at 1.20 pm, Jan 11, 2018, according to Section 353 of the Penal Code.

The actor was also jailed for four months for uttering improper words against the same victim at the same time and place, according to Section 90 of the Police Act 1967. However, the court ordered the two sentences to run concurrently, with Farid Kamil only having to serve 13 months' jail.

However, following the actor's appeal, the Shah Alam High Court replaced the 13-month jail term for using criminal force to a fine of RM5,000 while the four-month jail sentence for uttering improper words was replaced with a fine of RM500.

Judicial Commissioner Nurulhuda Nur'aini Mohamad Nor made the decision after taking into account that Farid Kamil had paid the compound to the parties involved in the incident, including the policeman.

Meanwhile, the three-judge panel also rejected the public prosecutor's application for an extension of time to file an appeal petition against the sentence for the charge under Section 90 of the Police Act 1967, after finding that the public prosecutor did not provide sufficient reasons to support his application.

This means that the prosecution will only pursue a cross-appeal against the RM5,000 fine decided by the Shah Alam High Court against Farid Kamil for using criminal force.

The date for the hearing of the appeal has not been set by the court.

In today's proceedings, the prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutors Nahra Dollah and Zaki Asyraf Zubir while lawyers Kee Wei Lon and Low Wei Loke acted on behalf of Farid Kamil.

-- BERNAMA