Kota Kinabalu: Seventeen Vietnamese were charged with entering the State without identification documents.
All of them were brought before Sessions Court Judge Azreena Aziz to face the charge against them on Monday.
Eleven of them pleaded guilty to entering the State illegally and were sentenced to six months’ jail each, while the rest pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The court set Jan 7 next year for case management and Feb 18-19, 2021 to hear the case for those who claimed trial.
The Vietnamese were arrested at 6.15pm on July 1 this year inside a vessel in Pulau Menggalum, here, after failing to produce their identification documents to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement (MME).
The offence under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 provides for a jail term up to five years, or a fine of up to RM10,000, or both, and whipping, on conviction.
The court ordered the eleven Vietnam nationals to serve the jail sentence from the date of their arrest and referred to the Immigration Department after completing their jail sentence.
For those who claimed trial, the court ordered them to be remanded further pending the disposal of their case.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Muhammad Fitri Wan Azizan from MME appeared for the prosecution while counsel Hamida Ambo defended the Vietnamese.
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