Fadley Faisal

The Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday handed a 24 months’ jail sentence to a notorious thief who holds previous convictions from 1989 until 2017.

In this case, Ahmadi bin Haji Dagang claimed trial to the theft of two vehicles.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sabrina binti Haji Mahmud’s case against the defendant stated that he had met a man at his house in Bengkurong Masin at 5pm on May 2, 2019.

Arriving at the house, the defendant agreed with the man to steal a car in the Berakas area and they set out together to a house in that area.

Soon after, the defendant alighted their vehicle and walked towards the vehicle, entered it and rummaged through the compartment, where he found a spare key. The defendant then ignited the engine using the key and drove back to his friend’s house in Bengkurong Masin.

A few days later, the defendant, together with his friend along with two other people sold the stolen car for BND200 and divided the money amongst them equally. At 8pm the same night, the car owner’s wife noticed that her husband’s car was missing.

She also remembered hearing a revving engine outside their home at about 7.30pm and thought it was the garbage truck. Upon realising his car had gone missing, the car owner immediately lodged a police report.

It is also the prosecution’s case that on the morning of May 8, 2019 the defendant set out from a friend’s house in Kampong Sungai Akar on foot.

As he was thirsty, he looked for water to drink and came across a bottle of water inside a car parked at a house on Jalan Kebangsaan Lama.

Upon seeing that, the defendant gained entry into the car and took the bottle of water and drank it.

He then rummaged through the car compartment where he found a spare key and stole the car.

He started the car and drove away to a sundry shop in Kampong Mulaut and left it there. From there, he asked for a lift from other people to send him back to his house in Kampong Lugu.

The car owner saw his car being driven out of his compound and lodged a police report.

Police investigations led to the defendant’s arrest.

Magistrate Hajah Ervy Sufitriana binti Haji Abdul Rahman found the prosecution’s case to have proven the case beyond the court’s reasonable doubt and believed testimonies of the prosecution witnesses.

The defendant remained silent, neither offering any explanation nor contested the prosecution’s evidence.

Magistrate Hajah Ervy Sufitriana, on finding the defendant guilty, convicted him and on handing the defendant’s punishment highlighted that theft of a motor vehicle is a serious offence as it has caused inconvenience to the victims which calls for a custodial sentence.