A pickup truck driver was fined a total of RM11,000 after pleading guilty to five charges, including hitting a male teacher while he was jogging, causing serious injuries, at the Magistrate’s Court here today.
Mohd Hikmal Bolong, 29, made the plea after all charges, including a preferred charge under Section 43(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333/87), were read before Magistrate Don Stiwin Malanjum.
For the preferred charge under Section 43(1), Mohd Hikmal was fined RM8,000 for careless and negligent driving that led to the accident involving a 33-year-old teacher jogging on the roadside at Batu 3, Jalan Apas, around 3:55 am on June 7.
The accident left the victim with serious injuries, including mild traumatic brain injury with intracranial bleeding, a laceration at the back of the head, liver injury, broken ribs, and severe injuries to his right leg.
For the remaining four charges, the court imposed fines of RM1,000 each under Sections 52(1) and 52(2), and RM500 each under Sections 15(1)(a) and 90(1) of the same act. Mohd Hikmal explained that he would pay the total fines.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant Superintendent Joan Lee from the Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Division of the Tawau District Police Headquarters, while Mohd Hikmal was represented by lawyer Syahlan Jufri.
According to media reports on June 9, the victim and about 20 friends were jogging from a fast-food restaurant toward Bandar Seri Indah when a pickup truck hit him from behind, throwing him into a concrete roadside ditch. CCTV footage from a nearby premise went viral on social media before the suspect voluntarily surrendered at the police station the following day.
