A self-employed man was yesterday sentenced by the magistrate's court to one year's jail for causing the deaths of two student nurses, who were crushed by a falling car at the KB Mall shopping complex two years ago.
Magistrate Noor Haslinda Che Man ruled that Mohd Sabri Jusoh, 29, had in his defence failed to create a reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case.
Sabri, from Besut, Terengganu, was charged with causing the deaths of Nor Amira Samsudin, 19, and Siti Nordiana Azman, 18, through negligence at 5.10pm at the shopping mall on Dec 6, 2009.
Noor Haslinda said the court had found the accused guilty after taking into account all the facts and evidence submitted by the prosecution and the defence.
Sabri's counsel, Mohd Azzam Madah Marzuki, urged the court to impose a light sentence on his client as it was his first offence.
"My client is the eldest of seven siblings and earns about RM800 per month. As the eldest in the family, it is his responsibility to support his family as his brothers and sisters are still schooling.
"He has to shoulder bigger responsibilities lately after his father died at the end of last year."
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Salam Yusof said the court should impose a heavy punishment as the offence was serious and involved public interest.
Noor Haslinda ordered the jail sentence to begin from yesterday.
In the incident, Nor Amira and Siti Nordiana were crushed by the car when it fell three storeys from the rooftop car park and landed on the ground floor of the shopping mall.
Sabri had gone to the mall with two girls, believed to be his foster sisters, when his car failed to start.
State police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi was reported as saying that the accident occurred after Sabri, who owned the car, told one of the sisters to get into the driver's seat while he pushed the car to start the engine.
"She lost control of the car and it crashed through the wall before falling to the ground floor of the mall."
Another student nurse, Rashidah Ahmad Lotfi, 24, was also injured in the incident.
