20 Nigerians charged for alleged assault on four police officers in Malaysia

A total of 20 Nigerians have been charged at a Magistrates Court in Malaysia with four counts, including rioting and attacking four police officers at Flora Damansara condominium last month.

All the accused pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to them in English before magistrate Mohamad Ikhwan Mohd Nasir.

Earlier, all the accused were brought in Black Maria and arrived at the Petaling Jaya court complex at 10am under tight police escort.

For the first three charges, 10 of them were charged with disturbing public order by rioting, causing injury to four police officers and using criminal force to intimidate the police officers.

For rioting, they were charged under Section 147 of the Penal Code which carries a two-year jail term or fine, or both, while for causing hurt to the police officers on duty, they were charged under Section 332 of the Penal Code which carries a three-year jail term or fine, or both.

For using criminal force, they were charged under Section 353 of the Penal Code which carries a two-year jail term or fine, or both.

All the offences were committed at Block F, Flora Damansara here at 11.12pm in July. In addition, all the accused were also charged under the Immigration Act. Six of them pleaded not guilty to overstaying in this country.

They were charged under Section 15 (1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and punishable under Section 15 (4) of the same Act, which carries a maximum of RM10,000 fine or a maximum of five years’ jail, or both.

Other than that, 14 of them were charged with staying in the country without any legal permit at a hotel here at 12.20am on July 29 and the charge was framed under Section 6 (1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, also punishable under Section 6 (3) of the same Act.

In the proceeding, Deputy Public Prosecutor Hakim Amir Abdul Hamid prosecuted while three lawyers M Tharuma Ratnam, Siti Rohaya Mohd Tajuddin and Dinesh Ramachandran represented the accused.

Mohamad Ikhwan did not grant bail for all the accused and set Sept 5 for the re-mention of the case.

In the July incident, four policemen were hurt after being attacked by a group of African men during a raid at an apartment in Flora Damansara.