PUTRAJAYA: Sam Ke Ting, who was ordered to serve a six year jail term by a Johor Baru High Court Judge over the basikal lajak (modified bicycle) case without allowing her a stay of execution, wants the public to stop looking at what had happened to her from a racial viewpoint.
Her lawyer, Mohd Faizal Mokhtar, said Sam had also repeatedly expressed her sadness over what had happened and sympathised with the families of the eight teenagers killed after a car ploughed into them in 2017.
"She has repeatedly said she sympathised with the victims' families. She is saddened with the loss of lives.
"Sam is a law abiding citizen and she has always said she would respect the court's decision. She is prepared to face the consequences if she is found guilty.
"However, we hope people don't view this as a racial issue," he told reporters after the Court of Appeal (COA) freed his client on bail.
Faizal said Sam was thankful her application to appeal against the Johor Baru High Court decision to jail her for six years and RM6,000 fine had been granted.
He said Sam had been attending every court proceeding without fail and posed no flight risk whatsoever.
A three member bench led by Datuk P Ravinthran freed Sam on RM10,000 bail with one surety and also allowed her application for a stay of execution and to file an appeal against the Johor Baru High Court decision which has found her guilty of reckless driving.
The other judges on the COA bench were Datuk Lee Heng Cheong and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
Asked how Sam had been coping after spending the past week in jail, Faizal said the prison authorities had treated his client well and that she was thankful for it.
Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Manoj Kurup acknowledged that the case had garnered a lot of publicity and the prosecution had no objection to Sam's application. He also told the judges that bail should be allowed.
Sam had applied for leave to appeal against the High Court's decision after she was denied a stay of execution following her six years' jail and RM6,000 fine for reckless driving by Johor Baru High Court Judge Datuk Abu Bakar Katar.
The clerk, who had been charged with causing the death of eight cyclists at Jalan Lingkaran Dalam in Johor Bahru at 3.20am on Feb 18, 2017, was acquitted and discharged by the magistrates' court on Oct 28, 2019 at the end of the prosecution's case without her defence being called.
The offence under Section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333) carries a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of RM20,000 upon conviction.
The eight victims were Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14 (at the time of the incident); Shahrul Izzwan Azzuraimie, 14; Firdauz Danish Mohd Azhar, 16; Fauzan Halmijan, 13; Azhar Amir, 16; Harith Iskandar Abdullah, 14; Shahrul Nizam Marudin, 14; and Haizad Kasrin, 16.
However, on Feb 18, 2021, the Johor Baru High Court sent the case back to the magistrate's court asking Sam to enter her defence after allowing an appeal by the prosecution.
On Oct 10, 2021, the magistrates' court again acquitted and discharged her.
The prosecution then appealed again to the High Court where she was convicted and jailed on Apr 13. Abu Bakar had ordered Sam to begin serving her jail sentence immediatel after his ruling after denying her a stay of execution.
It was reported that Abu Bakar convicted Sam after ruling that she had failed to put up a defence at the prosecution stage of her trial.
He said her unsworn statement from the dock after the court told her to enter her defence was a bare denial and an afterthought.
He added that the magistrate was wrong to accept her defence that she did not know that there were cyclists at the place during the wee hours and it gave her the latitude to drive recklessly.
He said Sam should have been aware that the accident scene was not brightly lit and one's vision was also limited.
"She should also be aware of the risk of driving beyond the 50km per hour speed limit," he added.