Kota Kinabalu: A 29-year-old man was jailed three years and ordered given two strokes of the cane for cheating another man of RM296,000.
Magistrate Lovely Natasha Charles also ordered Mohd Zairul Hakim Moktar to pay a fine of RM5,000 in default 12 months’ jail.
Mohd Zairul pleaded guilty to cheating one Joel Thien Tze Lit, 30, by deceiving the latter that he (Mohd Zairul) was the owner of the 2.19-acre land in Sandakan.
The crime took place at Damai Plaza in Luyang on July 22, 2019.
He committed the offence under Section 420 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of between a year and 10 years, and whipping, on conviction.
The court ordered Mohd Zairul to serve the jail sentence consecutively with the sentence which he is currently serving.
In his mitigation, Mohd Zairul asked for leniency and the sentence to be served concurrently.
However, Prosecuting Officer Inspector Kelvan Elson Maik urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence.
The court heard that on July 22, 2019, Thien had given RM296,000 to Mohd Zairul as payment for the land.
On Feb 7, 2020, Thien then went to the Land and Survey Department to change the ownership of the land but was informed by the officer that the real owner of the land had never sold the land to Mohd Zairul.
Thien then contacted Mohd Zairul to discuss about the matter and asked him to return his money but he failed to do so.
Investigation revealed that Mohd Zairul had falsified the land grant for the purpose to cheat Thien over the purchase of the land.
In the same court, a man was jailed 30 months for breaking into a house and stealing.
Sahlan Hassan M.d.z Kanillas, 34, pleaded guilty to trespassing into a house belonging to a man at Taman Friendship in Putatan between Feb 24 at 11.30pm and Feb 25 at 6am.
He also stole a handphone from the house.
Meanwhile, his co-accused Ozzy Kairull Jain, 37, claimed trial to the charge and the court set April 13 for case management.
Ozzy was released on bail of RM1,400 with two local sureties.
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