The court heard that the accused, Aman Mustapa, had threatened to expose the victim’s sexual encounter with his fiancée, which had been secretly recorded on a mobile phone, unless the money was paid.
Court of Appeal judge Noorin Badaruddin said this was a glaring case of a civil servant abusing his position and authority to instil fear in a member of the public for personal gain.
She said Aman, as a police officer, had been entrusted under the law to protect the public and enforce the law.
“The effect of your conduct has also undermined public confidence in government institutions,” she said in the unanimous decision dismissing Aman’s final appeal against his conviction and sentence.
Justices Azman Abdullah, who chaired the bench, and Radzi Abdul Hamid also sat on the appeal panel.
Aman committed the offence at the Selama police headquarters in Perak between 4.30am and 5.30am on June 18, 2020.
He was charged under Section 385 of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of up to seven years’ imprisonment, a fine, caning, or any two of the punishments upon conviction.
Accused planned to obtain more than RM300
Noorin said the court also took into account that Aman had planned to extort RM10,800 from the victim over three years.
She said the Court of Appeal agreed with the High Court that the three-year jail sentence imposed by the sessions court did not reflect the seriousness of the offence.
Noorin said Aman imposed the condition that the mobile phone would only be returned after payment was made, thereby reinforcing the prosecution’s case that there had been blackmail and intimidation for the purpose of extortion.
The incident occurred during the movement control order period at about 12.40am on June 17, 2020. The victim was riding a motorcycle in Pekan Sungai Bayor, Selama, Perak, when he was stopped by Aman and several colleagues.
The victim was not carrying identification documents at the time. Aman checked the man’s mobile phone and found pornographic videos involving the victim and a woman.
Aman confiscated the device and instructed the victim to follow him to the Sungai Bayor police station. The officer then kept the victim’s mobile phone and transferred the videos to his own phone.
He also summoned the victim and his fiancée — the woman featured in the videos — to his office in the early hours of the morning even though no police report had been lodged over the possession of obscene videos on the phone.
Deputy public prosecutor Zaki Asyraf appeared for the prosecution, while lawyer Ghazali Ismail represented the appellant.