Kota Kinabalu: Five people, including three undocumented men, were sentenced to 12 months’ jail each, Friday, for committing mischief by cutting cables worth RM20,000 belonging to a telecommunications company.
Mohd Azlee Nordin, 33, Muhd Salleh Kasmin, 32, Khalid Kasmin, 26, Muhd Dafi Abdullah, 24, and Elpi Sapari, 44, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Marilyn Kelvin to cutting cables belonging to Telekom Malaysia, along with five accomplices on Aug 14, at 10pm, under the Jalan Kemajuan flyover, near Sembulan river here.
The five were jointly charged with another accused, Shadan Hamsan, 30, in committing the offence under Section 431A of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to two years or fine, or both, on conviction.
Shadan, a labourer, however, pleaded not guilty.
Inspector Suzie SK, in presenting the facts of the case, informed the court that on the said day, the complainant, along with the task force team, made observations in the area due to suspicions of cable theft.
After 10 minutes, the team saw six men pulling cables from underground and immediately arrested them.
The raiding team discovered four TM copper cable rods that had been cut, as well as a hacksaw used by the men to steal the cable, the court heard.
The five men requested leniency.
Suzie applied a heavier sentence on the men as a lesson for them and would-be offenders, as cable theft had become rampant.
She also applied for Salleh, Khalid, Dafi and Elpi to be referred to the Immigration Department as they have no valid identification document.
For Shadan, the prosecution applied another mention date and proposed bail at RM6,000.
Marilyn ordered the five men to serve the sentence from the date of arrest and ordered Salleh, Khalid, Dafi and Elpi to be referred to the Immigration Department thereafter.
She fixed Oct 4 for mention of Shadan’s case and offered him bail at RM1,800 in two sureties.
Meanwhile, two men were fined for having stolen copper cables.
Azrezzan Tontoi, 31, and Md Farid Aiman, 23, pleaded guilty to having 10 and five pieces of stolen copper cables, respectively, on Feb 5, this year, at 12.30am, at KKIP Sepanggar.
Azrezzan was ordered to pay a fine of RM1,600 or one month’s jail while Farid was fined RM1,000 or one month’s jail.
They were charged under Section 411 of the Penal Code.
Azrezzan and Farid were represented by counsels Farazwin Haxdy and Abdul Razak Jamil, respectively.
