PUTRAJAYA: Khor Khan Khai, former special aide to the Penang assembly speaker, has to serve 30 months in jail for outraging the modesty of a woman almost four years ago after failing to obtain leave from the Court of Appeal to appeal his conviction.
Khor, 43, had to obtain leave before he would be allowed to pursue his appeal in the Court of Appeal under Section 50 (2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 as his case originated from the Magistrate's Court.
A three-member bench of the Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Datuk Has Zanah Mehat, Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Hashim Hamzah, dismissed Khor's leave application on Thursday (Feb 17).
On Nov 23, 2020, the Bukit Mertajam Magistrate's Court found Khor guilty on a charge of outraging the modesty of a woman, then 31 years old, and sentenced him to 30 months' jail.
He committed the offence at Level 3 of an office in Jalan Sungai Rambai, in the Central Seberang Prai district, Penang, at 11.15pm on Aug 24, 2018.
He appealed to the High Court against his conviction and jail term but lost his appeal, which was dismissed by the High Court in Butterworth, Penang, on Dec 21 last year.
He then filed an application seeking leave to pursue his appeal to the Court of Appeal.
In his leave application, Khor also sought a stay of execution of his jail sentence pending disposal of his appeal in the Court of Appeal.
Lawyer M. Athimulan who represented Khor urged the court to grant leave, saying that there were several legal questions that ought to be decided by the Court of Appeal.
Meanwhile, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari, appearing for the prosecution, said the questions raised by the defence were not legal questions, adding that leave should not be granted.
Section 50 (2) of the Courts of Judicature Act states that an appeal against any decision of the High Court in respect of any criminal matter that was decided by a Magistrate's Court would be confined to only questions of law. - Bernama