Kota Kinabalu: Three men were jailed nine years plus four strokes of the cane each for robbing a man with a machete.
Jonny Usre Jinius, 29, Albert Abel, 33, and Muhammad Qayyum Abtar, 31, pleaded guilty before Sessions Court Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan, to the charge against them on Tuesday.
The trio had robbed Syhliadey Abdul Hamid by using the machete on Nov 16 this year at 3.33am in front of the Kedai Fotomart Dobi at Pekan Lama, Papar.
During the incident, the trio had taken the victim’ gold necklace worth RM1,000 and a sling bag containing RM40.
The offence under Section 395 of the Penal Code carries a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, on conviction.
In handing down the sentence to the accused, the court said the case was very serious and rampant and this would cause fear to the public and feel unsafe.
During mitigation, all the trio who were not represented, asked for leniency saying that they have families to look after and they were remorseful for what they had done. They promised not to repeat it again.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Shafeerah Mad Iskim urged the court to impose a heavier sentence considering such case is rampant and most cases had used weapons in committing the robbery.
The court heard that the incident happened while the victim was taking a rest near the shop when three unknown men came and grabbed his gold necklace and cut his sling bag with the machete.
During the incident, the victim pretended to be asleep as he feared for his safety as the unknown men later identified as Jonny, Albert and Muhammad, had a machete.
Following a police report by the victim after he checked the CCTV footage near the shop, he saw the trio’s action.
Investigation revealed that the trio had sold the gold necklace for RM433.
The trio had several previous criminal records.
