A quantity surveyor was sentenced to a month's jail and fined RM8,000 by the Magistrate's Court in Balik Pulau today after he pleaded guilty to two counts of flashing obscene hand gestures in public last Monday.

NONE On the first count, Leong Pei Koe, 29, was charged with flashing the obscene hand gesture to the Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Hajah Haminah while the car carrying her was passing the departure hall of the Bayan Lepas International Airport at 11.50am last Feb 11.

He was also charged with showing the obscene hand gesture to a police officer ASP Mohamad Fakhrudin Abdul Hamid at the same place,date and time.

Both the charges were made under Section 294 (a) of the Penal Code which provides an imprisonment for up to three months or fine or both, upon conviction.

On the first count, Magistrate Muhamad Hidayat Wahab sentenced Leong to 30 days' jail and fined RM6,00, in default two months jail.

On the second count, Leong was sentenced to seven days' jail and fined RM2,000, in default a month's jail.

The court ordered Leong to serve the jail sentences concurrently from the date of his arrest on Feb 11.

When handing down the sentence, Muhamad Hidayat said he took into consideration Leong's guilty plea and apology, as well as public interest.

Earlier in mitigation, Leong, who was unrepresented, had apologised for committing the offence.

Prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim.

- Bernama