By: V. Anbalagan

PUTRAJAYA: A businessman began a six-month jail term yesterday for spying on model-actress Nasha Aziz by video camera.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of Ahmad Bakhtiar Abdul Kayoom, 31, who has been on RM10,000 bail since he was convicted by the magistrate's court on April 30, 2004.

He was sentenced to six months' jail on each of two charges of trespassing and insulting the modesty of Nasha, with the sentences running concurrently.

In November 2006, the High Court upheld the conviction. Bakhtiar was found guilty of having installed a closed-circuit television camera in Nasha's rented apartment at B2-3 Shahzan Court, Jalan Nipah, off Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur.

Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Zaki Azmi said there was no merit in the appeal to set aside the conviction and sentence.

"After careful consideration of the submissions made by the appellant and the respondent we find there is no miscarriage of justice," he said.

On July 27, 2002, Nasha discovered a camera in the apartment she was renting from Bakhtiar. She lodged a police report, leading to his prosecution.

Zaki, who sat with judges Datuk James Foong and Datuk K.N. Segara, said the sentence imposed was light but reaffirmed the jail term as there was no appeal from the public prosecutor.

He said Nasha was traumatised after Bakhtiar captured her private moments in a video footage.

"Was the footage circulated on the Internet? Too many of these things are happening of late," the judge said.

Deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin said Nasha was a famous personality and the incident had affected her psychologically.

"I have seen the video clip during the trial and it should not be circulated to the public," said Noorin, who also conducted the prosecution in the magistrate's court.

She said that although the accused was a young offender, he had outraged Nasha's modesty by installing the camera.

In mitigation, counsel Jagjit Singh urged the court to bind his client over as a custodial sentence would not help in rehabilitating him.

Earlier, he submitted that Bakhtiar's cautioned statement should be omitted as evidence because the prosecution had failed to mark it for identification before accepting it as an exhibit.

Noorin replied that the failure to follow procedure in tendering the cautioned statement did not prejudice the accused.

"The statement was merely corroborative evidence. We relied on circumstantial evidence to prove our case."

Noorin said a wire from Nasha's apartment was connected to a room where only the accused had exclusive access.