Rap on the knuckles for an 'honourable' crime
'This is a first in mitigation of a court case where a crime is ‘justified' by the 'heroic' element of an individual's alleged act.'
Sex video: Datuk T trio pleads guilty, fined RM5,500
Lim Chong Leong: Defence lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said there are honourable crimes committed by honourable people.
The truth is there wasn't any crime committed by the ‘sex actors', but the only crime was instead committed by the Datuk T trio by secretly filming and possessing, and then screening, the sex video. What is so honourable about that?
Why did the police take so long to investigate and the attorney-general take so long to charge the trio when they were prepared to plead guilty in the first place? And why plead guilty?
All this seems to be an elaborate exercise to drag Anwar Ibrahim through the mud over a prolonged period when there was actually nothing to connect the video to him.
Ferdtan: It is surprising that all three men pleaded guilty. We would have thought that they were going for full trial to bring out all types of filth into the courtroom to further dent Anwar's reputation.
However, these men still want to have the last say - by branding Anwar as the person in the sex tape. The charge has nothing to do with the identity of the actor in the tape. This is the 'perception' game these pornography distributors are playing.
Another reason that it didn't go for full trial is that the police have no real evidence. The trial will definitely fail.
Multi Racial: Today mark the lowest point of Malaysian's judiciary. This is the biggest sandiwara involving the government, police, Attorney-General's office and the judiciary. The outcome is known.
We know these three criminals will walk out free with a minor fine. Their objective was to blackmail opposition parties and to discredit Anwar so that the opposition will be too weak to take over Putrajaya.
But they are wrong. They have made Malaysians more resolute to change the federal government so that we can reform our judiciary, the police, MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) and the rest.
Pemerhati: The Umno plot to tarnish Anwar was thoroughly discredited by the photographic evidence which shows Anwar appearing in court the next day after the alleged incident with a beard, whereas the Anwar lookalike, who is alleged to have performed in the video the previous day, does not have a beard.
Umno thinks that since it has a complete monopoly of the media, most people will not be aware of this very important piece of information that proves that Shazryl Eskay Abdullah is lying.
Hence, Umno is using this court case to continue to repeat this blatant lie over and over again and hoping that a lot of people will begin to believe this lie and turn against Anwar.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad used this strategy of lying continuously against Anwar during the Sodomy 1 trial and failed miserably, but PM Najib Razak does not seem to have learnt a lesson from that episode.
Patriot: This is the mother of all sandiwara - a slap on the wrist by the judge. It is all stage managed. The Datuk Trio pleaded guilty and the defence had a field day accusing Anwar.
If the police is 99.9 percent sure, why can't they charge Anwar? It is because it is not a crime to have sex with a prostitute. The whole exercise is framed by the powers-that-be in Umno to undermine the creditability of Anwar, who is the glue that keeps DAP and PAS together in Pakatan.
It's too bad that the plot did not work and Umno had to find a way out and charge the Datuk Trio to show they are transparent and fair. What a show.
Alex Jeffrey Nathan: What this case illustrates is that if anyone is caught by the police for inviting and screening to members of the public porno videos, the punishment under Section 292 (a) of the Penal Code is a fine between RM1,000 to RM3,000.
People in the porno video business will definitely welcome this decision by the court.
Dicksonian_sltiger: If any of the opposition were to be charged with a similar offence and assuming that they plead guilty (as per the trio), you can bet your last dollar that they will be thrown in jail (if the law permits it) and/or slapped with the highest possible fine.
Pants on Fire: If Najib now thinks that Malaysians will be convinced that there's no political motive, he must be naive or even stupid. And if Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin is to say this shows BN is not involved, it's even harder to believe.
The verdict and sentencing merely show and prove that the government is in full control of the courts.
Karma: Muhammad Shafie is really dumb in saying Anwar should be in court and charged. He forgot that it was his client who committed the crime, not Anwar.
This is a first in mitigation where a crime is ‘justified' by the 'heroic' element of an individual's alleged act.
Tkc: If this charade was not staged to further smear Anwar's name, then Rahim Thamby Chik is a saint.
Anwar maintains innocence, cries conspiracy
Anonymous: Someone commented a few days back that there was something fishy going on with the Datuk T trio case. Well, now you have the answer.
They used the court and the media to highlight it for the sole purpose of revealing the identity of the man in the sex tape. They have no intention of bringing justice to the trio's alleged crime.
Imposing the RM5,500 fine is just a ploy so that Khairy can later say that justice has prevailed.
Ferdtan: Yes, all this from the great defence lawyer who aspires to be the next attorney-general.
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