KUCHING: Two men were each sentenced to 15 months in prison by the Magistrate’s Court here today for stealing a motorcycle last March.
Magistrate Ling Hui Chuan imposed the sentence on Abdul Rahim Othman and Mohammad Nur Azree Ismail after both pleaded guilty to the charge under Section 379A of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same code.
Section 379A of the Penal Code provides for imprisonment of between one and seven years, and a fine, upon conviction.
The duo was also ordered to serve their sentences from today.
The offence was committed at about 12:51 am on March 16 at Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce here where they stole a Yamaha Y15ZR motorcycle belonging to a 24-year-old man.
According to the facts of the case, the victim discovered at about 6:00 am on the same day that his yellow Yamaha Y15ZR motorcycle had gone missing from the five-foot way in front of a sporting goods store.
He subsequently lodged a police report at Satok Police Station.
Police investigations found that at about 12:50 am on the day of the incident, both the accused had gone to the location on a Honda EX5 motorcycle.
Abdul Rahim was then alleged to have stolen and fled with the victim’s motorcycle together with Nur Azree.
The incident was captured on closed-circuit television (CCTV).
The court heard that the two accused later took the stolen motorcycle to the Malaysia-Indonesia border in Bau and sold it to an Indonesian man.
The motorcycle was subsequently taken into Indonesia, making it difficult for police to trace and recover it.
Acting on information and intelligence, a special team from Kuching District Police Headquarters arrested eight local men believed to be involved in motorcycle thefts around Kuching during operations in Kampung Sungai Bedil and Kampung Siol Kandis on April 3 and 8.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Muhammad Afiq Safly Nor Kazly. Both the accused were unrepresented.
