KUCHING: Two friends were sentenced to five months in jail today after asking for RM3,000 in protection money and threatening to burn a heavy machinery belonging to a 28-year-old man if he refused.
Zainal, 42, and Mohamad, 36, pleaded guilty to a single charge before Magistrate Syarifah Fatimah Azura Wan Ali.
According to the charges, they conspired to make criminal threats against the victim at a construction site in Taman Desa Wira on August 15, approximately 4.30 p.m.
Therefore, the two defendants were charged under Section 506 of the Penal Codes in conjunction with Section 34 of the same code, which carries a jail sentence of up to seven years or a fine, or both, if convicted.
Syarifah Fatimah determined that the two accused will serve a prison sentence effective from the date of their arrest on August 17.
According to the facts of the case, during the incident, the complainant was approached by two men sying that they would take care of the site and asking for a protection amount of RM3,000.
If the victim failed to pay the amount, they threatened to burn the complainant’s heavy machinery.
The arrival of the two accused for the third time to collect the money concerned the complainant, who subsequently reported the event to the police.
The two suspects were successfully apprehended by police on August 17 for further action and investigation.
As a result of the investigation, it was discovered that the two accused had issued criminal threats to the victim, threatening to burn the victim’s heavy machinery.
The case was prosecuted by Prosecuting Officer Inspector Mohd Adzmei Ahmad, and the accused was not represented by a lawyer.
