SIMANGGANG: Three men were sentenced to a total of 25 months’ imprisonment by the Magistrate’s Court here on Tuesday after pleading guilty to stealing electric cables and trespassing into a restricted utility area in Sri Aman.
A fourth accused avoided jail after paying the fines imposed by the court.
The four men, aged between 27 and 41, were charged before Magistrate Intan Nurul Farena Zainal Abidin over the incident, which occurred at a utility installation area in the district.
Sri Aman police chief Supt Dennis Bunyam said the accused jointly committed the theft at a utility substation belonging to a utility company on May 13.
They were charged under Section 379 of the Penal Code for stealing electric cables, which carries a penalty of up to seven years’ imprisonment, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
Three of the accused also faced additional charges under Section 447 of the Penal Code for criminal trespass by entering a restricted area without permission, as well as Section 426 of the Penal Code for committing mischief that caused damage to the company’s utility facilities.
All four accused pleaded guilty to the cable theft charge. The court sentenced each of them to a fine of RM8,000 in default 12 months’ imprisonment.
However, only one of the accused managed to settle the fine, while the remaining three failed to do so and were ordered to serve 12 months’ imprisonment from the date of arrest.
For the offence under Section 426 of the Penal Code, the three accused were each fined RM5,000 or 10 months’ imprisonment in default, while for the Section 447 offence they were fined RM2,000 or three months’ imprisonment in default.
As the trio failed to pay all the fines imposed, the court ordered the jail sentences to run consecutively from the date of arrest, bringing the total imprisonment term to 25 months at Sri Aman Prison.
