KUCHING: A 24-year-old man was today sentenced to a total of 19 years and six months’ jail and 14 strokes of the cane for robbery, mischief and gang robbery while his co-accused was jailed 10 years and ordered to receive seven strokes of the cane for gang robbery.
Mohamad Shafik Abdullah was first sentenced by Sessions Court Judge Musli Ab Hamid after he pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 392 of the Penal Code for robbery.
He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane, to be served from the date of conviction at Sri Aman Prison.
In mitigation, Shafik pleaded for leniency, saying he committed the offence because of unemployment and financial difficulties.
The prosecution however, pressed for a deterrent sentence, citing the seriousness of the offence, the trauma suffered by the victim, and Shafik’s pending and past criminal involvement, including another case under Section 394 of the Penal Code.
The court was told that the victim lost several personal belongings, including her identity card, bank card, cash, house keys and personal items during the incident at Jalan Greenhill on May 6 at 5.47 pm.
In separate proceedings before Magistrate Leona Dominic Mojiliu, Shafik was sentenced to 18 months’ jail after pleading guilty to mischief under Section 426 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code for splashing petrol at a house gate on March 16 at 2:00 pm.
In another case before the same Magistrate, he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for an offence under Section 427 of the Penal Code for damaging property by splashing red paint at a residential property on April 4 at 5:15 am.
The court also heard that CCTV footage and police investigations linked him to the offences, which caused fear and trauma to the victims.
In another Sessions Court proceeding before Judge Noorhisham Mohd Jaafar, Shafik and co-accused Nik Farris Asri bin Salbini both pleaded guilty to gang robbery under Section 395 of the Penal Code.
Shafik, who had a prior conviction under Section 392, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane, ordered to run consecutively after his earlier sentence due to the separate nature of the offences involving different victims and incidents.
Nik Farris, 27, was also sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane.
The court was told that the duo had committed gang robbery with gunpoint-style intimidation in front of a pharmacy in Kuching on June 11 at 8:00 am, snatching valuables including an iPhone, bank cards, identity documents and cash worth about RM7,000.
The prosecution then applied for a deterrent sentence, stressing that both accused had extensive criminal records and that Shafik was also in breach of parole at the time of the offence.
Police later recovered several stolen items and linked both accused to the crime through CCTV footage and made arrests separately in June.
Deputy Public Prosecutors, Muhammad Aidil Akmal Sharidan, Chuah Kai Sheng and Ahmaf Fauzulutfi Suriani, prosecuted the cases respectively, while both the accused were not represented.
