SHAH ALAM, Feb 19 ― The Shah Alam High Court today granted the police a seven-day remand order for controversial dating site Sugarbook’s founder, after the police applied for a review since an earlier remand application was rejected yesterday.
High Court judge Datuk Noordin Badaruddin granted the order today stating that the remand order starts from the day he was rearrested yesterday.
Yesterday, the same court had dismissed the police’s initial application after the suspect pledged to give his full cooperation to facilitate police investigation in the case after the arrest on Wednesday evening.
Following that, the state lead prosecutor had made an application for review against yesterday’s decision, which was duly granted.
Lawyer T. Shashi Devan said today his client is ready to cooperate fully with investigations and asked the judge if the police would take into consideration a request to provide some amenities and leeway for his client.
He said the suspect had a prior shoulder injury and when handcuffed behind his back, causes severe pain.
“Your honour my client dislocated his shoulder years ago and when he is handcuffed behind his back the nerves damage causes severe leg pain.
“I humbly ask that the police do not handcuff him behind his back and also provide him with some change of clothes,” he said.
Justice Noordin agreed with his request by asking the police if it was absolutely necessary to handcuff him.
“It is the police's prerogative whether to handcuff or not but I question its necessity. I'm sure we can try to avoid aggravating him further so please take that into consideration. Apart from that, do allow him to change his clothes.
“Besides that I grant the remand order for seven days from the date of the application which was yesterday,” she added.
The suspect when met at the lift of the Courthouse while under heavy police presence looked tired and haggard.
When asked how he felt about his remand said: “I am willing and am going to cooperate fully with the investigations,” before being dragged away by police.
The police initiated investigations into the dating website after it named 10 public and private universities as having the most students who chose to become “sugar babies” and sought “sugar daddies” to finance their lifestyles.
On Tuesday, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission blocked access to the Sugarbook website for allegedly breaching the law on the use of network facilities or network services.
The industry regulator posted a notification on the website saying it had violated Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
