Fadley Faisal

The Magistrate’s Court yesterday sentenced a permanent resident to nine months’ imprisonment and ordered him to undergo three years of supervision, after he pleaded guilty to charges of theft.

Chief Magistrate Pengiran Masni binti Pengiran Haji Bahar heard from Deputy Public Prosecutor Raihan Nabilah binti Ahmad Ghazali about how Mohamad Safihi bin Haji Sidek, 41, brought a friend’s car to give it a fresh change of tyres at a vehicle workshop in Kampong Sengkurong, at 8.14am, on August 12.

As the mechanics changed the car tyres, the defendant had a look around the premises.

He found a bag under a wooden ramp and took BND10 from it.

When he saw that the mechanics were still busy with the car tyres, he grabbed another bag from a chair beside the wooden ramp and hid it under his shirt.

Later, having left the vehicle workshop, the defendant searched the second bag and found BND39.30 and a Samsung Tab inside.

He used all the cash to buy drugs, food and fuel, while selling off the Samsung Tab for BND30.

The stolen items belonged to the workshop mechanics, who later realised that their belongings had gone missing.

They lodged a police report, which, aided by a CCTV installed at the workshop, led to the defendant’s arrest.