TAWAU: A 31-year-old Filipino was jailed four years and fined RM200,000 or two years’ jail by the Tawau Sessions Court, Monday, for having body parts of green turtles (Chelonia Mydas) in Semporna, last week.
Judge Awang Kerisnada Awang Mahmud meted out the sentence to Suryan Sah Mohd Edi who pleaded guilty to the charge against him.
According to the charge sheet, Suryan Sah was accused of having 13 pieces of plastron and 25 pieces of marginal scales of the green turtle species in front of an unnumbered house in Kampung Bangau-Bangau, Semporna at 10am on March 29.
He was charged under Section 41(1) of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.
The offence is punishable under Section 41(1) of the same enactment which provides for a maximum sentence of RM250,000 other than imprisonment not exceeding five years, if convicted. The turtle is a fully protected species as listed in Schedule 1, Part 1, Number 8 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.
Awang Kerisnada, in his judgement, said the accused was an environmental criminal and the court must be firm on the matter.
“Among the confiscated were axes and hammers. This shows that the turtles were brutally killed,” he said.
The court also ordered the accused to be deported to his country of origin after completing the jail sentence.
The prosecution was conducted by Sabah Wildlife Department prosecuting officer Abdul Karim Dakog while the accused was unrepresented.
