The Criminal Court has sentenced a man to 40 lashes and a jail term after he admitted to drinking alcohol before crashing into a parked car in Hulhumalé.
The sentence was handed down against Ghufraan Khalid, from Nest in Laamu Atoll Kalaidhoo.
The state pressed charges of alcohol consumption against him after an accident in which the car he was driving crashed into a vehicle parked near Imaan Mosque in Hulhumalé Phase 2.
During the police investigation into the accident, he admitted that he had been drinking alcohol before the crash.
Police also found cans of beer inside the car he was driving. He also pleaded guilty to the charge at the preliminary hearing.
The basic sentencing guideline for the offence is one month and six days in jail. The state said that, as he had confessed, the sentence should be reduced by one degree from the basic guideline, and that the offence also carries a punishment of 40 lashes.
The state further requested that part of the jail sentence be converted to a fine, and the defendant also asked the court to rule as the state had requested.
With the reduction for his guilty plea, the jail term came to 27 days. As the state did not object to converting part of it into a fine, the judge converted 18 of the 27 days into a fine of MVR 3,600.
As a result, the court sentenced Ghufraan Khalid to nine days in jail, along with 40 lashes, and a fine of MVR 3,600.
