Mother of eight jailed for disposing of stolen handphone

KOTA KINABALU: A mother of eight was jailed 12 months for disposing of a stolen handphone.

Magistrate Cindy Mc Juce Balitus imposed the custodial sentence on Satria Syed Albari Muntaha, 37, who pleaded guilty to the charge yesterday.

Satria had committed the offence at a handphone shop in Putatan here at 10am on June 25.

The offence was framed under Section 414 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to seven years or with a fine, or both, upon conviction.

In mitigation, Satria, who was not represented, claimed that she did not know the handphone was a stolen item as she was helping her brother, who was in need of money.

Prosecuting officer Suzie @ Stephanie Jupiter requested for a deterrent sentence to be imposed on the accused.

Based on the facts of the case, Satria received the handphone from her brother who wanted to borrow some money from her.

However, she did not have the money to lend him, thus she sold the stolen handphone to get some money for her brother.

In an unrelated case, the same court sentenced a man to 16 months in jail for retaining a handphone, which is believed to be a stolen item belonging to a woman.

The magistrate made the decision on Mohd Rizwan Jul Hassan, 21, after he admitted to committing the offence in front of a food factory in Jalan Tuaran here at 2pm on July 10.

He pleaded guilty to committing an offence under Section 411 of the Penal Code.

The indictment provides for a jail term of up to five years and also liable to a fine or to both, upon conviction.