KOTA KINABALU: A local cleaner was jailed for seven years and ordered to be whipped thrice by the Sessions Court here for gang robbery.
Judge Duncan Sikodol meted out the sentence on Suffian Janiun, 30, after the latter changed his plea of not guilty to one of guilty when his case came up for trial yesterday.
Suffian, who claimed trial on June 21, this year, admitted to robbing Klinsmann Bikoh, 22, of two cell phones and RM2,400 in cash, altogether worth RM3,000.
He committed the offence with two accomplices who are still at large, inside the premises of the Sea Park Condotel in Tanjung Aru about 5.10am on August 20, 2011.
The offence under Section 395 of the Penal Code provides for a jail term of up to 20 years, and also liable to whipping, upon conviction.
The facts of the case stated that while the complainant was on duty with his colleague at the hotel, a man in a Proton Saga arrived and approached him.
The man then enquired about the hotel’s room rate before leaving the premises.
The same man later returned and proceeded straight to the reception counter.
Suddenly another man came in and placed a machete on the complainant’s neck and brought him to the reception counter before freeing him of his two hand phones.
The complainant also heard the man who entered the hotel earlier asking the cashier to take out the money from the drawer.
They also went to the store before fleeing from the scene in a car bearing registration number SAA5800Y.
The unrepresented Suffian was arrested at Karamunsing police station about 4pm on January 11, this year and further police investigation revealed that he was the man who took away the money from the drawer.
Deputy public prosecutor Luke Ressa Balang prosecuted.