13 fined over illegal lottery tickets

KOTA KINABALU: Ten women and three men were each fined by the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday for separate charges of possessing lottery tickets without a licence, with cash seized from them of about RM11,833.30.

Ho Yaw Voon, Ronnie Baharuddin, Yennie Viviani Baharuddin and Mira Adila Madli were each fined RM2,500, in default, three months’ jail, Lorrendo Laitin, Nor Haslinda Zulkarnaen, Nur Alisha Balqis Lamree Abdullah, Nor Baite Chu and Sapawie Sait received a RM2,300 fine each, in default, three months’ imprisonment.

Indonesian Ernie Antonius, Derina Japain and Helena Jerry were fined RM2,200 each, in default, two months’ jail while Nur Alisha Balqis received another RM2,000, in default, two months’ jail for her other charge of committing a similar offence.

All the accused persons pleaded guilty before magistrate Mohd Aizat Abdul Rahim to their charges framed under Section 9 (1) of the Common Gaming House Act 1953, which carries a fine of up to RM5,000 or a maximum jail of six months or both, upon conviction.

Prosecuting officer Inspector Papilus Primus told the court that the thirteen accused persons, aged between 18 and 66, were arrested for having the tickets during operations at five premises in Tuaran between March 18 and December 5.

The magistrate also ordered the exhibits to be disposed of by the prosecution and the money seized, the highest amount was RM5,220 and the smallest was RM8.30, to be forfeited and surrendered to the Treasury Department.

All the accused persons who were unrepresented prayed for a lower fine on the grounds that they were unemployed since they were arrested for these cases.