Man jailed eight years for robbing woman of cash, handphone

KOTA KINABALU: A man, armed with a folding knife, was jailed for eight years for robbing a woman of RM500 cash and a smartphone.

Sessions Court judge Azreena Aziz imposed the sentence on Sukri Awang, 23, after he pleaded guilty to the charge, yesterday.

He had committed the gangrobbery with another man, Sahnizam Nair, 18, who will have his case mentioned on July 27 this year for his social report and sentencing.

They robbed Norfazrinah Majli, 24, of her black Samsung J2 Prime and money at a convenience shop in Kampung Taun Gusi, Penampang at 5.40pm on June 3.

The offence is framed under Section 395 of the Penal Code and read together under Section 397 of the same Code, which carries a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.

In mitigation, the unrepresented Sukri prayed for a lenient sentence. However, deputy public prosecutor Wan Farrah Farriza Wan Ghazali urged for a deterrent sentence as the accused had committed a serious offence which is rampant nowadays.

Sahnizam was released on RM10,000 bail with RM5,000 to be deposited with two local sureties and was ordered to report himself to the nearest police station once a month while his passport, if any, was impounded.

Failure to furnish the bail, Sahnizam will be further detained under custody, pending disposal of the case.

The facts of the case stated that a complainant lodged a police report on June 3, stating that she was robbed by two unknown men using a folding knife.

The men, who rode on a motorcycle, took away her money and a handphone, which caused her to suffer a total loss of about RM1,200.

An investigation revealed that the accused persons had threatened the complainant while pointing the folding knife at her and asked for money.

The complainant handed over her money to the accused and one of them snatched her handphone from her hand.