Kota Kinabalu: An unemployed man was jailed 24 months, Thursday, for stealing a woman’s lingerie in a residential area where he lived, last week.
Muhammad Rizal Richard Abdullah, 39, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Jessica Ombou Kakayun to stealing a nightdress and a panty belonging to the woman at the back veranda of a unit at Taman Puncak Menggatal, in Manggatal at 1.39am on Aug 11.
Inspector Albert Basiri prosecuting, told the court that prior to the incident, the complainant, who woke up at 5am, went to the back veranda to check on her garments on the clothesline as there was a frequent loss of clothes in the residential area.
The complainant then found several garments stolen and a check via the CCTV footage showed a man, who was also living in the same residential area, had taken the clothes, including her lingerie.
A police report was lodged by the complainant as such incident had occurred six times.
Police investigations found through the CCTV recordings that on the said day, the man, later identified as Rizal, was seen naked and taking the complainant’s lingerie using a wood.
The complainant suffered a loss of RM70, the court heard.
The residential management also informed the police that Rizal was also a resident there and once worked at the residential management.
The court heard that Rizal was arrested by police on Aug 13 and that the police also seized a nightdress belonging to the complainant, several panties, including one belonging to the complainant, that Rizal was wearing when he was arrested.
Rizal was charged under Section 379 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of up seven years or fine or both, on conviction.
Duty counsel Nabila Norsahar representing Rizal requested leniency on the grounds that by pleading guilty he had saved the court’s time and cost.
Rizal regretted his wrong action and was remorseful for stealing the woman’s undergarments and promised not to repeat such offence in future, said Nabila, adding that he has no previous conviction record for similar offence, except that he was jailed for drug offence.
Nabila also applied for the court to consider Rizal’s personal background as a divorcee with two children, aged 17 and 14, and that he was unemployed and his family was supporting him.
Albert urged the court to impose a heavier sentence as a lesson to Rizal since the case had gone viral on social media and involved public interest, especially among women.
According to the prosecution, Rizal was wearing the complainant’s panty when he was arrested and that it was an irresponsible act of him as the incident has happened several times before in the residential area.
“The accused has admitted that he was conscious and sane when he committed the act and for the purpose of satisfying his own lust and this is really a very shameful act, more so to the men,” submitted Albert.
The court ordered Rizal to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest.
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