By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, June 30: A prisoner released under the Prisoners’ Licensed Release (PBSL) programme was ordered to serve a cumulative prison sentence of 17 years and 30 months, along with 14 strokes of the cane, after admitting to a series of offences including gang robbery, snatch theft and vandalism.
Muhamad Syafik, 24, pleaded guilty to four charges heard before separate Sessions and Magistrates’ Courts on Monday (June 29). The courts ordered all prison sentences to run consecutively.
The most serious offence involved a gang robbery committed with co-accused Nik Farris, 28. The pair admitted robbing a 64-year-old woman of her smartphone, identity card and two ATM cards outside a pharmacy in Taman BDC, Jalan Stampin, at about 8am on June 11.
For the offence under Section 395 of the Penal Code, Sessions Court Judge Noorhisham Mohd Jaafar sentenced both men to 10 years’ imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane after accepting their guilty pleas.
In a separate case, Syafik admitted snatching a handbag from a 43-year-old woman along Jalan Green Hill at about 5.47pm on May 6.
Sessions Court Judge Musli Abdul Hamid sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 392 of the Penal Code.
Syafik also faced two charges of committing mischief against the property of a 64-year-old man.
In the first incident, he and an accomplice who remains at large were accused of splashing petrol on the victim’s house along Jalan Menggeris at about 2pm on March 16. In the second, he was accused of splashing red paint on the gate of the same house at about 5.15am on April 4.
Both offences were prosecuted under Section 426 of the Penal Code, with the petrol-splashing charge read together with Section 34 of the same Code.
Magistrate Leona Dominic Mojiliu sentenced Syafik to 18 months’ imprisonment for the petrol-splashing offence and 12 months’ imprisonment for splashing red paint on the victim’s gate.
The prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutors Chuah Kai Sheng, Muhammad Aidil Akmal Sharidan and Fauzulutfi Suriani. Syafik was unrepresented.— DayakDaily
