Father to take case to court

KUALA LUMPUR: The father of the 11-year-old Muhammad Naquiddin, is planning to sue Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) as he feels the council should be held equally accountable for the death of his son who was electrocuted by a faulty playground lamppost in Taman Batu Tiga here last year.

Mohd Marzuki Muda, 47, told The Malay Mail that he was not satisfied with the way the council handled the case from day one.

“I am going to sue MPSJ and will meet with my lawyers soon to sort this out.

“I cannot believe that it took so many months for MPSJ to haul in the contractor hired by them to court,” he said.

He questioned if the sentence meted out was justifiable.

“Is my son’s life worth that little? The punishment given does not justify the council’s actions in any way especially when they were the ones who had engaged the contractors concerned,” he said.

He also expressed disappointment that a heavier sentence was not meted out by the magistrate’s court on both the contractor and his worker who had pleaded guilty of the charges.

“We have seen shoplifters getting a heavier punishment.

“In this case, it was negligence on the part of MPSJ that had resulted in thedeath of my son,” he said at his home in Taman Batu Tiga on Saturday.

Last Tuesday, Afandi Embong, 45, company director and Mohd Amin Rosli @ Miswan, a 28 year-old worker, faced the music at the Shah Alam magistrate’s court for the electrocution case that had killed the boy on March 19 last year.

The worker was charged for “causing the death of any person by negligent act” under Section 304A of the Penal Code while the director was charged under Section 109 of the same Act for abetting.

The duo were sentenced by the court and ordered to pay a RM2,500 fine or face four months jail term in default.

It was learnt both the accused had no problems raising the fines.

Section 304A of the Penal Code states whoever causes the death of any person, by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Mohd Marzuki pointed out that their sentence was not justified as both men had admitted to the charges brought against them.

His wife Ros Zakaria said the faulty lamp post that took her son’s life was also located nearby the entrance to a kindergarten.

She voiced her concerns but the relevant authorities failed to see the seriousness of the case and its implications following her son’s death.

“What if other children suffered the same fate as my son? I cannot understand why they did not take the matter seriously and do something about it. Do we have to wait for something to happen before action is taken?

“MPSJ knew who the contractor was but they took their time on the matter,” said Mohd Marzuki.

He added that it was appalling the contractor concerned was allowed to continue operating after such an incident.

He pointed out there have been cases where operators were ordered to surrender their licences for less severe offences.

Sibblings Nur Atiqah, 10 and Mohd Izzuddin, 5, said they miss their elder brother very much.

“Each time we look at his picture it hurts so much and we get very sad, so we try not to look at his picture too much.

“We miss the times when we would spend time as a family just playing together,” they said.

On Sept 19, the Energy Commission wrapped up investigations into the case which took almost six months following the incident.

Energy Commission chief executive officer Ahmad Fauzi Hasan had then told The Malay Mail that the findings would be handed over to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further action.

In October, the Attorney-General’s Chambers head of prosecution division Datuk Tun Majid Tun Hamzah said the Chambers had instructed the police to investigate the case under Section 304A of the Penal Code and Section 37 of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 for tampering or adjusting of any installation on equipment causing danger to human life.

The following month, police submitted their investigation papers to the Chambers.