Teens sentenced to Henry Gurney School for involvement in security guard’s death

KUCHING: The Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (Dec 7) issued a directive sending six teenage boys to Henry Gurney School for their roles in the death of a security guard, an incident widely circulated on social media.

Magistrate Mason Jaro Lenya Barayan ordered two 18-year-old offenders to attend the Henry Gurney School until the age of 21, following a social report hearing.

Additionally, Magistrate Zubaidah Sharkawi ordered four juvenile offenders, aged between 15 and 17, to attend the school for three years based on a moral report from the Department of Social Welfare.

The implicated teenage boys admitted guilt to charges under Section 304 of the Penal Code, coupled with Section 34 of the same code. The charges state that they, along with others, inadvertently caused the death of a 51-year-old man in front of a Batu Kawa hotel between 12.30am and 1am on Oct 30.

Based on the case details, the victim’s employer, who served as the complainant, discovered the victim being assaulted by several unidentified individuals.

The victim was subsequently taken to the hospital but succumbed to injuries caused by blunt force trauma, confirmed in a post-mortem examination.

The incident originated from a misunderstanding where one accused was searching for his wife in a hotel, accompanied by friends who were drinking at a nightclub. Following a police investigation, all accused were arrested in stages.

None of the accused were represented by lawyers. Earlier, two men were sentenced to four years in prison for pleading guilty to the same charges.

Magistrate Zubaidah ordered Ashley Austin Chin, 25, and Albert Chin Quan Yan, 22, to serve their prison sentences on Nov 10.

On Nov 16, the Magistrates’ Court sentenced Hartley Tuntun, 33, to five years in prison for involvement in the unintentional killing of the guard in the same case.

Ayu Abdullah, 25, the wife of Ashley Austin Chin, was also sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring with her husband to cause the victim’s death.

Ayu was also fined RM1,500 or three months in prison for charges under Section 182 of the Penal Code for making a false police report alleging harassment by the hotel security guard out of concern for her husband.