JUDGMENT

Shaik Daud Ismail JCA:

This may appear to be a run of the mill case of voluntary causing hurt but it attracted the widest worldwide publicity that any other such like case could not possibly do. It can be said that this case created history in Malaysia as it shook the nation to the very core. The appellant, the Inspector General of Police was originally charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on 22 April 1999 for an offence of attempting to cause grievous hurt to the former Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim while he was under police custody in the lock-up at the Police Headquarters in Bukit Aman Kuala Lumpur on the night of 20 September 1998. It was fixed for hearing on 20 September 1999 exactly one year after the incident. After a number of postponements all at the instance of the appellant, the case was finally fixed for hearing on 14 March 2000. On that day the learned Deputy Public Prosecutor tendered an amended charge under s. 323 of the Penal Code, an offence of voluntary causing hurt. The appellant immediately pleaded guilty and after the facts were given and admitted to by the appellant and after hearing the mitigating submission, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the appellant and sentenced him to two months' imprisonment and a fine of RM2000 in default two months' imprisonment.

The appellant appealed against the whole of the sentence to the High Court while the Public Prosecutor cross-appealed against the inadequacy of the sentence imposed by the Sessions Court. The appeal finally came up for hearing in the High Court Kuala Lumpur on 10 November, 2000 ie, over two years after the incident. The learned judge dismissed the appeal against the two months' custodial sentence but allowed the appeal against the fine and quashed it. The Public Prosecutor's cross-appeal was dismissed.

At the hearing of the appeal against the two months' custodial sentence, the two learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the custodial sentence was excessive and urged upon us to impose a fine instead on the ground that the custodial sentence is unsuitable on the proved facts. They also submitted that the learned Sessions Judge had failed to adequately consider the salient aspects of the case, like the antecedents and contributions to the nation of the appellant. They added that the arrest and conviction taken together were sufficient humiliation to the appellant and that he had unreservedly apologised to Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his family. The learned counsel also cited a number of authorities for offences under s. 323 of the Penal Codewhere upon conviction the court had imposed fines or binding over orders.

The learned Deputy Public Prosecutor in his submission urged upon us not to disturb the custodial sentence as the learned Sessions Judge had made the right consideration and had applied correct principles of sentencing, and that the Public Prosecutor was satisfied with the High Court judge's sentence.

The facts of the case as admitted by the appellant showed that on the night of 20 September 1998, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim was arrested and taken to the police headquarters at Bukit Aman and placed in the lock-up at the ground floor. At about 10.45pm the appellant came down from his 30th floor office to the lock-up and ordered his men through hand signals to blindfold Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim and to handcuff him with his hands behind his back. The appellant then entered the lock-up and rained blows on Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim who screamed with pain. His screams were heard by two senior officers who were close by and they intervened to stop any further assault by the appellant by pulling him away from Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Four medical reports were tendered by the prosecution on the extensive injuries sustained by Dato' Seri Anwar, including the infamous black-eye.

The learned Sessions Judge considered all aspects of the case including the appellant's contributions to the nation, his long service in