PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has acquitted and discharged a 25-year-old man on a charge of stealing a mobile phone at Low Yat Plaza in 2015.

A three-man panel comprising Justices Mohtarudin Baki, Yaacob Md Sam and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil allowed Shahrul Anuar Abdul Aziz's appeal to set aside his conviction and the four months' imprisonment and RM1,000 fine imposed on him by a magistrate's court.

Justice Mohtarudin, who chaired the panel, said it was the court's view that Shahrul Anuar's appeal had merits as the Court of Appeal found that the magistrate had committed a serious misdirection of law tantamount to a miscarriage of justice.

"If you have done it, you should repent and if you did not, it's a test from God," Justice Mohtarudin told Shahrul Anuar.

He said the prosecution's cross-appeal against the inadequacy of the jail sentence was also nullified since Shahrul Anuar's appeal had been allowed.

On May 24, 2016, Shahrul Anuar was found guilty by a magistrate's court and was sentenced to four months' jail and fined RM1,000 for stealing the phone which was under the care of shopkeeper See Ming Ho at Techasia Boutique, Low Yat Plaza in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

His appeal against conviction and sentence was dismissed by the High Court on April 5, last year.

Shahrul Anuar's lawyer Datuk Shaharudin Ali told the court that his client had nothing to do with the purported commotion at Low Yat Plaza, adding that the incident was created by a different person and his client was caught in between.

He argued that the magistrate was wrong in finding that Shahrul Anuar had committed the offence and ordered him to enter his defence.

He said this was because the magistrate had concluded that Shahrul Anuar was guilty of the offence even before he had entered his defence.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tengku Intan Suraya Tengku Ismail submitted that there was overwhelming evidence to secure Shahrul Anuar's conviction adding that there was no miscarriage of justice against him. - Bernama