PETALING JAYA: The decision to charge Sam Ke Ting for reckless driving resulting in the death of eight teenagers on modified bicycles is correct, as the prosecution and court play a different role, says former Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.

However, he said for anyone who thinks the Attorney-General should not charge Sam, requesting to drop the charges is not appropriate.

“If you don’t charge, the public will get very upset because eight cyclists lost their lives.

“It is very difficult for the prosecutors,” he said.

Thomas said prosecutors throughout the world, from countries like Canada, Switzerland to India, would find it difficult not to file charges against the driver.

Thomas said in an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily in conjunction with the launch of the Chinese translation of his book My Story: Justice in the Wilderness that the decision to charge Sam by the deputy public prosecutor in Johor Bahru was correct due to decentralization of prosecution to achieve efficiency.

Responding to public opinion the AG should not have appealed against Sam’s 2019 acquittal, Thomas, who does not have access to the files, said he was unable to remember the reasons the deputy public prosecutor in Johor Bahru had filed for the appeal.

“The deputy public prosecutor came to see me and I agreed with his proposal then, said Thomas who later resigned as the Attorney-General on February 28, 2020.

He asserted that the court would free Sam if she is found innocent.

Sam, who was 22 at the time of the incident, was charged with reckless driving at Jalan LIngkaran Dalam, Johor Bharu, at 3.20 a.m. on February 18, 2017, causing the death of eight teenagers.

She was acquitted without defense called and the prosecution appealed against the magistrate’s court decision in 2019.

The prosecution won the appeal and the Johor Bahru High Court subsequently ordered her to enter defense.

The case was back in magistrate’s court where the court acquitted and discharged her again.

The prosecution appealed a second time and High Court Judge Datuk Abu Bakar Katar found her guilty by sentencing her to six years’ jail and RM6,000 fine.

Sam is appealing against the High Court decision at the Court of Appeal where leave to appeal was granted on April 18.

Case management has been fixed on June 28.

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