ALISTER Cogia, handcuffed to a prison warden, was taken to the Kota Sentosa hospital this afternoon after the Kuching High Court earlier today ordered that he be sent for psychiatric evaluation.

He was earlier found guilty of insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad on his Facebook page, which earned him a 10-year jail sentence and a RM50,000 fine.

But a relative told The Malaysian Insight this was not Cogia’s only brush with the law. He had even posted insults against a relative who had died in December. Furious relatives lodged a police report against him.

Cogia’s uncle, Waddle Rumen, told The Malaysian Insight that after holding him for 24 hours, police released him with the advice that he be sent to the Kota Sentosa hospital for a check up. The case was then classified as “no further action”.

“During questioning, police found that there was something wrong with my nephew,” said Rumen.

Cogia, a 22-year-old from Kg Segong, a former gold mining district in Bau, was described by his uncle as a loner and an introvert.

“He never had any friends in school. He never had any in the kampung too,” said Rumen.

“He kept to himself. He did not mix with people, even relatives.

“When he was in Form 1, I was told by my sister-in-law (Alister’s mother, Alen Rijod) that when he went to school, he would sit under his desk, not on his chair.”

Cogia had no interest in studying and would not mix with his classmates. He then dropped out of school.

From that day on until his arrest on March 3, Rumen said Cogia spent all his time locked up in his room with his computer and smartphone.

“In the nine years since he left school and until his arrest, he never bothered looking for a job. He never had one.

“He spent all his time, day in, day out locked in his room.

“The only time he got out of the room was to have his food or use the toilet,” said Rumen.

He added that Cogia would sometimes have bouts of rage at home, attacking his mother and smashing things in the house.

After the brush with the law in December and acting on the police’s advice to check out his odd behaviour, Rumen took Cogia to Kota Sentosa Hospital in February.

He, however, was told to go back to Bau Hospital, some 23km away, for a referral letter.

“After that, it was hard trying to persuade him to go to the hospital. He went into fits of rage when we tried to persuade him to go,” Rumen said.

Kuching High Court judge Azahari Kamal Ramli today ordered that Cogia be sent to Kota Sentosa Hospital for a month’s psychiatric evaluation.

This was after Cogia’s lawyers applied for a revision of the 10-year jail sentence meted by the Sessions Court.

Cogia, whose Facebook username was “Ayea Yea”, was ordered to appear in court for mention on April 16.

A team of PKR lawyers, headed by Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How, is helping Cogia with the review of the sentence.

Cogia was unrepresented at the Sessions Court last week where he pleaded guilty to all the 10 charges of insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

See said his team, comprising Francis Teron, Desmond Kho, and Jeffery Mok, applied for the recall as they were unsure if the lower court had taken into account Cogia’s psychiatric condition.

They doubted whether Alister understood the gravity of the charges and significance of his guilty plea. – March 13, 2019.