KUCHING: Two men and a married couple were each sentenced to 10 years’ jail by the Sessions Court today for robbing a man in a budget hotel room last month.
The accused, Mohd Ikmarrudin Adery, 30, Mohd Farus Junaidi, Nor Atiesya Mohammad Effindy, 30, and Zaidi Majani, 37, pleaded guilty to one charge of committing gang robbery before Judge Musli Abdul Hamid.
According to the charge sheet, the four of them jointly robbed a 24-year-old man by taking RM480 in cash, a smartphone, an ATM card, an identity card, and a Proton Preve, including its keys.
The incident took place in a budget hotel room at Centre Park between 8:00 pm and 10:13 pm on November 13.
The case was prosecuted under Section 395 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34.
Sentences handed down: Ikmarrudin, Farus and Zaidi were each sentenced to 10 years’ jail and five strokes of the rotan, while Nor Atiesya was sentenced to 10 years’ jail.
On the day of the incident, the victim was in the hotel room with a woman known as ‘Bella’ when two men approached him, one claiming to be Bella’s husband.
They demanded money to release the victim and seized his car keys, identification card, and mobile phone.
Before leaving in the victim’s car, the suspects instructed him to contact them once he had the money.
The victim pursued them on a motorcycle left behind by one of the accused but lost track of the vehicle near a shopping mall.
Police arrested all four suspects on November 14 at separate locations.
Investigations showed the group’s roles: Ikmarrudin threatened the victim with a knife, stole the car, and controlled communication by swapping the victim’s SIM card.
Farus masterminded the robbery and impersonated Bella.
Nor Atiesya lured the victim and assisted in the threats, while Zaidi, a man with feminine traits, helped plan the robbery and extorted RM300 from the victim beforehand.
The police seized the stolen items, which the victim confirmed as his, and forensic tests matched all four accused.
Deputy Public Prosecutor, Asmawi Nur Haqim Mokhtar, urged the court to impose strict punishment on the accused to serve as a lesson and protect the public interest.
