A gardener, who had pleaded not guilty to the charge of insulting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Facebook, changed his plea to guilty when the case came up for mention at the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur today.

Sharil Mohd Sarif, 36, made the guilty plea before judge MM Edwin Paramjothy, who then fixed April 26 for sentencing.

Sharil was accused of using the Facebook profile “Shahril Chain” to initiate transmission of communication which was offensive in character with intent to annoy another person.

The posting was read at the police’s Cyber Crime and Multimedia Investigation Division at 11.30am on March 13.

He was charged under Section 233 (1) (a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which provides a maximum fine of RM50,000 or imprisonment for up to a year, or both, upon conviction and a fine of RM1,000 for every day that the offence is repeated after conviction.

Earlier, the prosecution, conducted by deputy public prosecutor Muhamad Asyraf Md Kamal, sought a heavy penalty and fine on grounds that Sharil had violated the Federal Constitution by making insulting comments on a high-ranking individual in society.

“The offence committed by the person summoned is serious,” he added.

Lawyer M Dinesh, representing Sharil, said his client could not afford to pay fine with his income of RM1,000 a month and requested that the minimum jail sentence be imposed as he is the sole family bread winner, with a wife and four children, aged between five and 12 years, to support.

In the same court, Justice Paramjothy also set April 26 for mention of a case involving a customer service personnel, TR Thurkai Devi, 32, who was charged with the same offence.

The woman was charged with using the Facebook profile “Thurkai Devi Tangga Raja”, to initiate the transmission of communication which was offensive in character with intent to annoy another person.

The posting was read at the office of the Criminal Investigation Department’s legal division in Dang Wangi at 11.17 am on June 4, 2018.

Muhamad Asyraf, who also prosecuted in the case, informed the court that today the case was fixed for mention for submission of documents.

Thurkai Devi was not represented today.

- Bernama