PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has granted a former e-hailing driver permission to appeal his conviction and sentence for attempted extortion.
Lam Chang Nam received leave to challenge his RM7,000 fine and 18-month imprisonment default sentence for attempting to extort RM30,000 from the son of a preacher.
A three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan approved the leave application based on a single legal question for the full appeal hearing.
Justices Datuk Noorin Badaruddin and Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid completed the appellate panel that heard the application.
The court allowed the leave application after both prosecution and defence agreed to submit the legal question for determination.
The legal question addresses whether including Section 511 of the Penal Code in a charge under Section 385 renders the charge fatally flawed when stating extortion was actually committed.
The Petaling Jaya Magistrate’s Court found Lam guilty on March 24, 2023 of attempting to extort RM30,000 from missing Pastor Raymond Koh’s son in exchange for securing his father’s release.
The offence occurred at a Kelana Jaya shopping mall in Selangor at 9.46 pm on March 6, 2017.
The Shah Alam High Court dismissed Lam’s appeal against conviction and sentence on May 30 this year, prompting his Court of Appeal application.
Lam faced charges under Section 385 of the Penal Code read together with Section 511 of the same Code.
As the case originated from the Magistrate’s Court, Lam required leave by law before pursuing his appeal at the appellate level.
During proceedings, deputy public prosecutor Ng Siew Wee clarified that Section 511 addressing attempted offences was included because the term “committed extortion” appeared in the charge sheet.
She explained the trial deputy public prosecutor failed to amend the charge to accurately reflect “attempt to extort” and instead added Section 511 to cover the attempt element.
The Magistrate’s Court discharged and acquitted Lam on February 8, 2021 of a separate abduction charge after the prosecution withdrew it, though the attempted extortion charge proceeded.
Pastor Koh was abducted by several suspects on February 13, 2017 in broad daylight during the incident.
Lam appeared represented by lawyers M. Manoharan and M. Hariharan during today’s court proceedings. – Bernama
