The men braved the cold in their birthday suit and the women went topless but, as things turned out, they had to eventually endure a very public meltdown when word got out.
Canadian siblings Lindsey Peterson, 23, and Daniella Anne Louisa Peterson, 22, Briton Eleanor Grace Hawkins, 22, and Dutchman Dylan Thomas Snel, 23, paid the price for behaving indecently in public, before the world's media, many of whom had converged in the city for their date in court here on Friday.
Sessions Court Judge Dean Wayne Daly sentenced each of them to three days' jail from the date of their arrest on June 9 and fined them RM5,000 or spend another three months behind bars. The court ordered them deported after serving sentence.
In passing sentence, Daly held that the court accepted their guilty plea but said their action had caught the nation by surprise and that there was a public uproar over their action on Mount Kinabalu. Varied responses and comments were published and posted in the mass media about it, he said.
"Indeed the nation, local community of Kundasang and Ranau, especially the native community, were annoyed by their actions as they consider Mount Kinabalu sacred," he said. Daly took into account that there were visible signs of remorse in them and that they are first offenders.
Also, Lindsey, Dylan and Daniella surrendered themselves to the police on their own accord on June 9, he said, adding, Eleanor on the other hand was arrested in Tawau. There was, however, nothing to show that she was absconding. These showed that they have submitted to the law, said Daly, who stood down court proceedings for one and a half hours before emerging from his chambers for sentencing at 6.30pm.
He said the court found that a fine was not suffice, considering the facts of the case.
"The accused might have learnt their lesson but the sentence must be one that deters would-be offenders," he said before meting out the sentence.
Earlier, the four who arrived handcuffed at 2.45pm had to battle through a throng of foreign and local media, who were eager to capture their images, to enter the court building.
About 20 police personnel, some of them wearing balaclavas, had escorted the four and thereafter stood guard around the court.
The proceedings started at 3.50pm with the courtroom packed with local and foreign media as well as foreign diplomats.
The four took turns entering the dock to answer the charges framed against them, with Eleanor and Daniella accused of being topless while Dylan and Lindsey were charged with being naked at Km 8 within the vicinity of the peak of Mount Kinabalu, Ranau at 6.45am on May 30.
Eleanor, in admitting to the offence, uttered "I do", while the other three replied "Yes" when asked by the court interpreter whether they pleaded guilty to the charge.
The offence under Section 294(a) of the Penal Code for doing an obscene act in a public area to the annoyance of others carries a jail term of up to three months or fine, or both, on conviction.
According to the facts of the case presented by Senior Federal Counsel Jamil Aripin, the four were among 27 foreign tourists who scaled Mount Kinabalu on May 29 after signing up with a tour company.
The group was guided by five mountain guides and they were divided into smaller groups of eight – 10 tourists per group.
Mountain guide, one Azlan Ramli, was responsible for a group of 10 tourists among whom were the four accused. At 8.30am, the four together with their group guided by Azlan began their journey to Laban Rata. On their way to Laban Rata, this group of 10 people was said to be misbehaving, making excessive noise and ignoring the advice given by Azlan.
Before embarking on their journey to the peak of Mount Kinabalu on May 30, at 2.30am, Azlan gave a safety briefing as well as informed the group of the do's and don'ts whilst ascending to the peak.
During the briefing, Azlan observed that a number of the tourists were ignoring his briefing. When they reached the peak, they spent about one hour there taking photographs.
"At 6.30am, the group began their descent from the peak and at 6.45am at Km 8 on the mountain, this group decided to take photographs of the view.
"At this juncture, these 10 individuals challenged each other to remove their clothes to see who can withstand being naked in the cold. The four accused decided to participate in this challenge and started removing their respective clothes," said Jamil.
He said Azlan, on realising their actions, advised them against doing so but was ignored.
As Azlan was rather helpless and did not wish to start a commotion, he allowed this group to continue their actions.
"This challenge among this group of 10 lasted for about five minutes and thereafter they began their journey to the foothill of Mount Kinabalu," said Jamil, adding that a park ranger, one Daikin Anam, lodged a police report at Kundasang police station pertaining to the incident on May 30.
Eleanor was arrested in Tawau Airport whilst waiting to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur on June 9, while Lindsey, Daniella and Dylan surrendered themselves to the Karamunsing Police Station and were then arrested.
Police investigation revealed that their names were on the list to climb Mount Kinabalu on May 29-30 and that Eleanor and Daniella went topless while Lindsey and Dylan went completely nude at Km 8 Mount Kinabalu.
Jamil said their doing so was an obscene act taking into account the moral values practised in Malaysia and that the actions of these accused had caused much annoyance to the people of Malaysia, especially Sabahans.
The four managed to pay the fine after their parents transferred money to their counsel Ronny Cham, who then helped to pay the fine at the court registry at 7.30pm.
They were, however, brought to the Kepayan central lock-up for another night and are expected to be deported by the immigration authority on Saturday.
make sure they all have to pay for their cost & expeneses during custody and the airfares being kick out as well on top of the fines, not just deported for their convenience.
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