BUTTERWORTH: Fourteen men, including three underage individuals, appeared in the Sessions Court in Butterworth today, facing charges related to a riot that occurred last week.
They were accused of causing serious injuries to a man using parang and sticks, as well as possessing dangerous weapons in public.
All 14 defendants, aged between 15 and 51, pleaded not guilty to the charges read to them in Mandarin before Judge Nor Aini Yusof.
On the first count, all 14 were jointly charged with being members of an unlawful assembly, with intent, to have caused serious injuries to a 21-year-old man using parang and sticks.
On the second count, they were charged separately with possessing a dangerous weapon, a parang, in public without a valid reason.
The offences were allegedly committed in front of a premises at Lorong Bunga Raya 2, Taman Bunga Raya here about 7.15pm last Friday.
They were charged under Section 326 of the Penal Code and Section 6(1) of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958 (Act 357).
The prosecution was led by state prosecution director Mohd Nordin Ismail, together with Lee Jun Keong and Mohd Azhar Hamzah
Rafael Abdullah represented six of the accused. The remaining eight accused were unrepresented.
Nor Aini allowed all the accused to be freed on RM20,000 and RM28,000 bail for both charges.
Meanwhile, at the same court, one of the 14 was also charged with extortion which caused fear to a 38-year-old man.
That was after coffeeshop operator Bee Hooi Siang, 51, was said to have wanted to kill the victim, which resulted in the latter to surrender RM10,000 to the accused's account.
He is alleged to have committed the offence at a house in Kampung Gajah here about 8.13am last Friday.
He was charged under Section 386 of the Penal Code.
The prosecution did not offer bail due to the seriousness of the offence committed and the fact that the accused might approach the victim.
"However, if bail is granted, we request that the accused has to report himself at the police station nearest to his house on the 1st and 15th every month until the disposal of the case.
"The accused is also not allowed to be in contact with the victim.
"He should also surrender his international passport to the court until the disposal of the case.
Nor Aini set bail at RM15,000 and the imposition of all the additional conditions.
She fixed June 10 for mention of the case.
On Saturday, police detained 28 men who were allegedly involved in a riot at Jalan Raja Uda here on Saturday.
The following day, police detained another three people, bringing the total number of those arrested to 31 people.
