Kota Kinabalu: A 55-year-old man was sentenced to three years and six months in jail and ordered to be given one stroke of the cane by the Magistrate’s Court here Monday on two counts of misappropriation of RM2,000 cash and stealing RM1,000 cash from two women.
Unemployed Karim Adam pleaded guilty before Magistrate Lovely Natasha Charles on Monday to committing the offences.
Karim was jailed two years and six months and ordered to be caned once after he admitted to taking away RM2,000 cash from one Teh Siang Kee for his own use at 12.45pm on Sept 17 this year at the Hong Leong ATM, Gaya Street here.
He was ordered to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest on Oct 10, this year.
On the second count, Karim was handed one year’s jail for stealing RM1,000 from one Fatimah Indera at 12.30pm on Jan 1, this year at the Agro Bank, Jalan Pantai.
The jail term was ordered to run consecutively with the imprisonment sentence on the first count.
Inspector Kelvan Elson Maik prosecuting, in tendering the facts of the case on the first count, told the court that Teh was withdrawing money at the said ATM when a man, later identified as Karim, approached her and informed her that the machine was broken and that the money in the machine had not been recorded.
Karim then told Teh that the RM2,000 cash she was holding needed to be recorded and brought Teh to the first floor and told her to wait while he went inside.
Karim then came out and asked for the money and Teh handed over the RM2,000 to him before he went inside.
A few seconds later Karim came out and asked Teh to go inside to meet the clerk and point his finger at a woman who was busy talking on the phone.
Teh approached the clerk and asked about the money but the clerk looked puzzle and said she did not know anything and said there was no money with them.
Realising that she had been tricked, the complainant went down to chase after Karim but the man was gone.
The complainant felt as if hypnotised because she was unaware when handing over the money and later realised that the upstairs was a clinic.
In the second case, Kelvan informed the court that Fatimah was depositing money at the machine, a man, later identified as Karim approached her asking her to show the transfer receipt and told her that the Covid aid money had been deposited into her account and while saying that he patted the back of her shoulder.
The complainant then straightway walked to the machine and withdraw RM1,000 from her account before following Karim as he told her to follow him upstairs to their office.
When reaching the edge of the stairs, Karim took the money and the withdrawal transaction from the complainant’s hand before he ran away.
Karim was arrested by police on Oct 10 following a report lodged against him by the complainant, said the prosecution.
Unrepresented, Karim requested a lenient sentence as he regretted his wrongdoing and that he suffered from high blood pressure and heart ailment and still received treatment
Kelvan applied a deterrent sentence and told the court that Karim has four conviction records on theft, cheating and drugs.
Karim’s first count framed under Section 403 of the Penal Code carries a jail term of between six months and five years and whipping and liability of a fine on conviction while the second count under Section 379 of the same Code provides for a jail term of up to seven years or with fine or both if convicted.
Meanwhile, a 43-year-old man was fined RM2,000 or five months’ jail for having stolen jewellery.
Richard Lim admitted to having the stolen items – a necklace, a pendant and three rings belonging to one Nur Wahyu Safidil at 2pm on Oct 5 at Sadong Jaya.
The court heard that the items were reported stolen on Oct 4.
Richard was charged under Section 411 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of up to five years or a fine or both, on conviction.
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