By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Sept 9: The Federal Court has dismissed former Padungan assemblyman Dominique Ng’s application for leave to appeal against his 2017 contempt of court conviction, maintaining the decision of the High Court which sentenced him to a one-day jail term and a fine of RM30,000.
Despite having been arrested by the police during his younger days as an activist defending squatters from being evicted by the Land and Survey Department, this is the first time Ng was sentenced to a jail term, even though it is only for a day.
Ng, an advocate, when contacted told DayakDaily that he is currently serving his jail term in court, in accordance with the law, after settling the fine.
“I attended the court proceedings today via Zoom video conferencing from my office. Since the Court ordered for the penalty to be carried out instantly, I drove to court as fast as I could.
“If I had been i open court just now, I would merely have to wait till the end of the day, to symbolically serve the one-day jail sentence,” Ng explained.
In 2017, Ng was found guilty of committing contempt of court for filing an affidavit in support of recusing Miri High Court trial judge Lee Heng Cheong from hearing the suit, as well as making personal attacks on Lee’s character and judicial integrity in a video that went viral on social media.
Ng was representing the villagers of Kampung Haji Wahid in a Native Customary Rights (NCR) land dispute case when he applied for Lee’s recusal, but the application was dismissed.
In a video that was posted on the social media page of his clients, Ng, outside the court room, made various statements to his clients which were interpreted as having ridiculed and scandalised Lee. — DayakDaily
