Drug rehab employees change plea in assault case
SEREMBAN: Two staff members of a private drug rehabilitation centre changed their plea to not guilty at the Sessions Court here to allegedly causing grievous hurt to a male trainee.

Jason Jai Ganesh Murugiah, 48, who is a supervisor, and Kelvin Raymond, 26, an assistant staff member, were due to be sentenced yesterday after having pleaded guilty when they were first charged on March 26.

They were charged with causing grievous hurt to V. Vasanthakumar, 38, with a PVC pipe at a centre in Lenggeng.

They were jointly charged with committing the offence at around 11am on March 19.

Deputy public prosecutor Syamimi Farhana Muhammad A. Aziz asked the court to set bail at RM15,000 with one surety for each accused.

Counsel for the duo, Patrick Samuel, however, asked for lower bail as they both came from poor families.

He said they did not have relatives who could help them raise the bail.

Samuel said they have also been in police custody since their arrest.

“We will also be filing a representation to have the charge reviewed,” he added.

He asked the court to set bail at RM5,000 for each accused.

Judge Meor Sulaiman Ahmad Tarmizi set bail at RM8,000 with one surety for each and fixed June 21 for next mention.

In the same court, a 73-year-old land scheme cooperative chairman claimed trial to a charge of misappropriating RM422,440 belonging to the cooperative.

Zainol Ishak pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to him before judge Meor Sulaiman.

He was charged with committing the offence at a bank in Gemas between August 2020 and November 2021.

He was chairman of Koperasi Felda Palong Empat when the offence was allegedly committed.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Azriff Firdaus Mohammad asked the court to set bail at RM40,000.

He also asked that the accused be made to surrender his passport to the court and report once a month to the MACC till the case is disposed of.

Counsel for the accused, Shahidah Muslimah Roslan, objected to the bail amount as her client was only told a day earlier that he would be charged yesterday.

“The accused cannot possibly raise the amount in such short notice. He is also the sole breadwinner of his family and provides for his orphaned four grandchildren who are still studying.”

Shahidah said Zainol had also served the cooperative well since 1982 and was never charged with any offence in court previously.

She said her client, who suffers from chronic hypertension, could afford a bail amount of between RM10,000 and RM15,000.

Judge Meor Sulaiman then set bail at RM20,000 with one surety.

He also ordered the accused to report to the MACC on the first Saturday of every month and surrender his passport to the court.

The court fixed May 30 for the next mention.
SEREMBAN: Two staff members of a private drug rehabilitation centre changed their plea to not guilty at the Sessions Court here to allegedly causing grievous hurt to a male trainee.