LAW083

IMP TUS LAW083 B Y T H E S U I T S & C O INTRODUCTION TO THE LAW OF CONTARCT,TORTS & CRIMES (LAW083) AN INSIDE LOOK ON THE ASSAULT CASE INVOLVING A MALAYSIAN DIRECTOR & SCRIPT-WRITER OF THE MOVIE MENTEGA TERBANG LAILA (2022479218) WAHIDAH (2022837314) DAMIRA (2022606868) YASMIN (2022662966) DISCOVER THE TRUE MEANING OF ASSAULT AND ITS ELEMENTS THE CURSE OF ASSAULTING EDITORS: E DON'T LET THE FEAR KEEP YOU IN PAIN

C O N T E N T S T A B L E O F 02 01 U N D E C I D E D A S S A U L T C A S E & I S S U E 03 C A S E A N D T H E R E L E V A N T L A W S 04 05 A P P L I C A T I O N T O T H E I S S U E 06 C O N C L U S I O N R E F E R E N C E S W H A T I S A S S A U L T ?

NEWSPAPER CUTTING Controversial film Mentega Terbang director Khairi Anwar Jailani and screenwriter Arjun Thanaraju were reportedly splashed with paint and acid. They also have received several death threat, calls and messages threaten to hurt them. The death notes reading "You and your family must die", "Mentega Terbang don't challenge Islam" and "Remember (this) Mentega Terbang family" were left on both the vandalised cars. CONTROVERSIAL MENTEGA TERBANG FILM CASE OF ASSAULT Their lawyer also added that since Mentega Terbang became controversial, many parties involved in the film, including the cast and crew had received threats and criticism on social media. Selangor Police Chief Datuk Hussien Omar Khan when contacted said investigations were being carried out under Section 427 of the Penal Code for causing damage to property and Section 507 of the Penal Code for making death threats. By Nor Azizah Mokhtar, Kalbana Perimbanayagam - March 16, 2023 @ 8:38pm The Suits & Co | 1

DEFINITI O N S T A N D I N G B E H I N D P R E D A T O R S M A K E S P R E Y O F U S A L L Assault can be defined as an intentional - D A S H A N N E S T O K E S - and direct act of the defendant which causes the plaintiff reasonable apprehension of the immediate infliction of a force onto his person. LAW OF TORTS: ASSAULT ISSUE OF THE CASE FIND OUT THE DEFINITION OF ASSAULT AND ITS ELEMENTS TYPES OF DAMAGES UNDER CIVIL ASSAULT CASES C OMP E N S A T O R Y D AMA G E S N OMI N A L D AMA G E S P U N I T I V E D AMA G E S Does the action of the perpetrators sending death notes to the directors and scriptwriter of Mentega Terbang and splashing their cars with acid and paint constitute to an assault? The Suits & Co | 2

RELEVANT LAWS C The defendant must have the intention to hurt the plaintiff as intention is an essential element in order to prove the existence of assault. . Technology Now | Issue 70 | 234 The plaintiff must feel reasonable apprehension that a force will be inflicted upon him. The reasonable apprehension can be determine by the Objective Test: Would a reasonable man faced with the same situation that the plaintiff was in feel apprehensive that a force would be inflicted upon him? If the answer is 'yes' then, this element is fulfilled. B A ELEMENTS OFASSAULT MENTAL STATE OF THE DEFENDANT T H E S U I T S & C O CASE LAW: TUBERVILLE V. SAVAGE [1669] FACTS: Savage had made some insulting comments to Tuberville. In response, Tuberville grabbed the handle of his sword and stated "If it were not assize-time, I would not take such language from you." Due to this respond, Savage responded with force and resulting in Tuberville to lose his eye. Hence, Tuberville brought an action for assault, battery and wounding to which Savage pleaded provocation to with Tuberville's statement. HELD: The court considered the language used in Tuberville's statement and found that Tuberville did not express any intention to harm Savage. Tuberville's statement was just about that he was not going to harm Savage because the justices of assize were in Town. Therefore, there was no assault and Tuberville succeeded in his action. THE EFFECT ON THE PLAINTIFF CASE LAW: R V.ST GEORGE [1840] FACTS: The defendant pointed an unloaded gun to the plaintiff who did not know that it was unloaded at such a distance the plaintiff could have been hurt if the gun was fired. HELD: The court decided that there was an assault even though the gun was unloaded because the plaintiff was put in fear of being shot. BODILY MOVEMENT This element refers to a positive act indicating that the defendant will carry out his threat and it must be corresponds with the probable infliction of unwanted force onto the plaintiff. Hence, this element is not really sufficient. CASE LAW: INNES V. WYLIE [1844] FACTS: A policeman was acting under an instruction giving to him, he prevented the plaintiff from entering a room. HELD: The court held that if the policeman was entirely passive and simply obstructed the entrance of the plaintiff then, it would be no assault. However, in this case there was no assault on the plaintiff as there was no positive act of obstruction from the policeman. The Suits & Co | 3

RELEVANT LAWS AND NEW CASE CAPABILITY TO CARRY OUT THE THREAT This element is measured through the eyes of the reasonable plaintiff. The test is objective: would a reasonable man, who is in the plaintiff's position, feel reasonable fear that there is a threat of immediate force upon him? This requirement will fulfilled when the answer is "yes". HELD: The court found that the Appellant had done severe violence against the victim resulting the victim had nearly 100 stitches on her body and went through a surgical operation. In fact, based on the facts of the case, the victim had received several death threats from the Appellant if she refused to reconcile with him and the Appellant even threatened the victim's employer when she tried to assist and rescue the victim. Therefore, the court dismiss the Appellant's appeal. D PUBLIC PROSECUTOR V. HAFIZ FATHULLAH [2016] 1 LNS 989 FACT: In this case, the appellant had assault the victim which showed his capability as a grown man to assault a women. The appellant had followed her and purposely bumped into the company's car in order to damage it which it was driven by the victim on her way home. When the victim arrived at her home, the appellant suddenly showed up then he smashed and hit the window screen and the car door with his helmet several times. On top of that he also used a shovel, to smash the front windscreen, forcing the victim to come out of his car. The Suits & Co | 4

According to the definition of assault, in the case of the directors and scriptwriter of Mentega Terbang, it was considered as an assault because the perpetrators sent death notes to the directors and scriptwriter, threatened them and splashing their cars with acid and paint. Also, it gave an immediate infliction to the victims because of the effect of the acid on the car showed clearly. Next, based on the first element of assault, it shows that the perpetrators has the intention to do the action because it showed that the perpetrators tried to find information regarding the directors and the scriptwriter as the they knew their type of cars. Based on the fact of the case, the perpetrators did show their intention to harm the director and his family by stating “You and your family must die”. Moreover, the victims also received phone calls threatening to harm them and their families. Therefore, there is intent or act which made this case established as an assault. Hence, the first element is fulfilled. A P P L I C A T I O N & C O N C L U S I O N T O T H E I S S U E The other element of assault is the effect on the plaintiff. Based on this case, these elements are present because the director and the scriptwriter have gotten the effect on his car after being splashed with acid and paint by the assaulter. Distinguishing this case from the suit, even though the directors and scriptwriter had only been receiving threats indirectly however, it had put the victims in the apprehension of immediate violence since the perpetrators know where they live and what car they drove hence, it can harm themselves and their families as well. This can also be shown whereby both of the victims lodged a police report immediately proved that they feared for their safety. Hence, the second element is fulfilled. The Suits & Co | 5

The third element of assault is bodily movement. In this case, the perpetrators did not mentioned that they will kill either the directors or their families. They only gave threatening notes to the directors and scriptwriter however, the notes did not mentioned that the perpetrators will kill the directors and scriptwriter. Also, the perpetrators did not receive any instructions from anyone as they acted upon themselves. The perpetrators only sent threatening messages and splashed the acid and paint on the directors' cars however, there is no positive act from the perpetrators themselves to harass the directors directly. Thus, in the present case, there is no assault on the victims as there was no positive conduct from the perpetrators. The third element is not fulfilled. The last element is the capability to carry out the threat. Based on this case, the director and the scriptwriter did feel threatened and scared by the death notes that mentioned 'die'. Also, they received the threatening messages through phone calls as well. Referring to the case of PP V Fathullah, in which the Appellant earlier had come to the victim’s workplace, to harassed the victim, and later on the Appellant had threatened the victim’s employer before this incident. The evidence also showed that the Appellant has hide and waited for the victim somewhere outside the house, waited for the victim to return home and commited the offenses, this can be applied to the present case as the perpetrators knew the directors' place of work, phone number, their houses and the cars that they drove. This showed that the perpetrators are capable of carrying out any action that may inflict harm to the victim. Hence, the fourth element is fulfilled. In conclusion, the act of the perpetrators sending death notes to the directors of Mentega Terbang and splashing their cars with acid and paint does constitute to an assault. The Suits & Co | 6

THE SUITS & CO IMPETUS references IMPETUS EDITORIAL OFFICE AZMI NORDIN. (2023, MARCH 16). KES UGUT PENGARAH MENTEGA TERBANG DISIASAT. KOSMO! HAFIZ FATHULLAH V PUBLIC PROSECUTOR [2016] MLJU 773 LEARN ABOUT ASSAULT, BATTERY AND INTENTIONAL TORTS. (N.D.). FINDLAW. RETRIEVED MAY 6, 2023, FROM HTTPS://WWW.FINDLAW.COM/INJURY/TORTS-ANDPERSONAL-INJURIES/ASSAULT-BATTERY-INTENTIONALTORTS.HTML MOKHTAR, N. A. (2023, MARCH 16). ACID AND PAINT SPLASHED ON MENTEGA TERBANG DIRECTOR AND SCREENWRITER'S CARS. NEW STRAITS TIMES. SHAARI @ MAT SAMAN, N., MOHD AKAHSAH, N., MOHAMMED NA'AIM, M. S., AMIT, S. M., ABDUL JAMAL, J., & ABDULLAH, F. (2023). INTRODUCTION TO THE LAW OF CONTRACT, TORTS & CRIMES (SIXTH EDITION ED.).