KUALA LUMPUR: Blogger Papagomo, who uploaded a video of himself beating up a Pakistani worker for allegedly making lewd gestures at his sister was fined RM4,300 by the magistrate's court today.
The accused, whose real name is Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, 33, pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting Khuram Shahzad before magistrate Husna Dzulkifly.
On the first and second count, he was charged with slapping and punching the victim's left cheek while on the third count, he was charged with kicking the victim in the crotch.
The self-employed man committed the offences in front of Starparc Point in Wangsa Maju here at 1.30pm on Jan 29.
According to the facts, during the incident, the victim and two other foreign workers were approached by several men including the accused and his two sisters.
The accused had then asked the workers to form a line and asked his sister to identify the person who had sexually assaulted her.
The victim was then slapped and punched in the face and kicked by the accused without knowing the reason why he was attacked.
Earlier during the proceeding, the video of the incident that Azri had uploaded on his Facebook page was played in court.
Azri admitted that it was him in the video committing the offences.
In mitigating for leniency, Azri's counsel Azzizul Shariman Mat Yusoff said the incident did not amount to a bloody attack and the injuries sustained by the victim were only minor injuries.
"As we saw in the video just now, no serious injuries were brought on the victim and there were no bloody incidents," he said.
He added that the accused's wife, his four children and his parents who were diabetic patients were dependant on him and he is also supporting his sister who is studying in a college as he is the sole breadwinner despite earning RM3,000 monthly.
“According to the facts, his two sisters complained to him that the victim often sexually harassed them by staring at them while his hands were inside his pants," he said adding that the accused did not blindly commit the offences.
Azzizul pleaded for a fine to be imposed rather than a jail sentence.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Zikri Jaafar urged for deterrence in sentencing so that the accused will learn a lesson and not take matters as such into his own hands through violence.
"Instead of taking matters into his own hands, he could have settled it by reporting it to the police and not by violence," he said.
The magistrate fined Azri RM1,000 for the first offence in default two months jail, RM1,500 in default three months jail for the second and RM1,800 in default five months jail for the third offence.
After paying the fine, Azri said;
"Maybe I should not have assaulted the worker but I definitely do not regret standing up for my sisters,"
In January, a video showing Azri slapping and kicking a foreign worker for allegedly making lewd gesture against his sister, went viral on social media.
The video drew mixed reactions from netizens, with some criticising his action while others taking side with the blogger.