AN online petition calling for the release of Sam Ke Ting, who was sentenced to jail yesterday for reckless driving and causing eight deaths, has garnered more than 300,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.

An individual named Wan Junaida, who started the #FreeSamKeTing petition on Change.org, is seeking 500,000 signatures.

The petition, as at 1pm today, has garnered 323,442 signatures.

Yesterday, the Johor Baru High Court sentenced the clerk to six years’ jail and fined her RM6,000 for reckless driving in connection with the deaths of eight teenagers riding modified bicycles, or “basikal lajak”, five years ago.

“We Malaysians are horrified by the new sentence on Sam, where facts support that she was a responsible driver, the real victim, in this accident,” said Wan on the petition site.

“It was the (fault of the) failed care of the parents of the future ‘mat rempit’ who allowed their children to roam the streets with modified bicycles, or ‘basikal lajak’, at 3am,” she said.

“We do not accept this judgment, and seek to have her sentence overturned, so as not to rob the bright future of a young, innocent Malaysian citizen,” she said.

Judge Abu Bakar Katar ordered Sam Ke Ting, 27, to serve her jail sentence beginning yesterday.

She was previously disqualified from driving for three years and must serve an additional six months in jail if she fails to pay the fine.

In his judgment, the Abu Bakar said the defence failed to raise any reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case, which had clearly proved the essence of the offence.

Yesterday’s judgement set aside the magistrate’s court’s decision on October 10 last year to acquit and discharge the woman of the charge. 

However, upon appeal from the prosecution, the High Court had, in February 2021, ordered Sam to enter her defence.

Abu Bakar, when reading his decision in allowing the appeal, said the court is satisfied that the essence of the offence under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 had been successfully proven.

He said the trial court had erred when it failed to decide whether the woman’s defence in her unsworn statement was a denial or a mere afterthought. – April 14, 2022.