Published on: Saturday, December 01, 2007 |
Kota Kinabalu: A local couple were jailed two years and fined RM2,000 each by the Magistrate's Court here Friday for two counts of cheating.
Basri Saifudin, 35, and wife Rosdiana Johny @ Jony, 25, from Petagas, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Marlina Ibrahim. They were supposed to go on trial but pleaded guilty instead.
On the first count, the couple were sentenced to one year's jail each for cheating factory worker Narishah Tahang, 30, of RM150 and two handphones as guarantee for collecting a RM200,000 lottery prize.
They admitted committing the offence at 4pm on June 28, this year at Asia City, here.
The couple, on the second count, were handed another one year's jail and fined RM1,000 or two months' jail each for cheating Filipina housewife Fatimah Suhaib, 37, of a RM520 gold necklace and a RM510 handphone, also as guarantee for collecting the lottery prize.
They committed the offence at 1.30pm on June 25 this year at the bus terminal in front of the City Hall building here.
According to the charges, the couple had requested help from the women to collect the prizes which they claimed they had won but unable to collect them as they had no valid personal documents.
The couple were jointly charged with Majid Sangkala, 50, for committing the offences, framed under Section 420 of the Penal Code, each of which carries a jail term of up to 10 years and with whipping, and also a fine, on conviction.
However, Majid maintained his innocent on both charges and will go on trial on from Dec 27 to 28 this year. He was released on bail pending trial.
Marlina ordered Basri and Rosdiana to serve the jail sentences concurrently from the date of their arrest on July 17 this year.
She also ordered them to be placed under police supervision for one year after completing their respective sentences.
Basri and Rosdiana had, on July 24 this year, claimed trial to the charges and offered bail at RM2,000 with RM750 deposited in one surety on each charge. However, they failed to post bail. Chief Inspector Lim Swee Beng prosecuted.
