Indonesian woman jailed for immigration-related offences

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KUCHING: A 38-year-old woman from Indonesia who pleaded guilty to overstaying in the country and using fake MyKad was sentenced by the Sessions Court to seven months’ jail yesterday.

In a circuit sitting held at Semuja Camp near Serian yesterday, Judge Timothy Finlayson Joel meted the sentence on Titin Wardini under Section 416 of the Penal Code for cheating and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for contravening the immigration law.

She committed the offences at the arrival hall of Kuching International Airport at 10.30pm on June 29. Titin was on her way to meet a man, believed to be her boyfriend, and was apprehended upon her arrival at the airport for entering the state with a fake MyKad.

Initial investigation by the Immigration Department at the airport revealed that the MyKad number belonged to another woman but bearing her (Titin) photograph. The National Registration Department also confirmed that details on the MyKad were fake as it was not registered in their data base.

In mitigation, through her counsel Lim Lian Kee, Titin pleaded for leniency in sentencing because she was a first-time offender and that by pleading guilty to the charges, she was saving the court’s time.

She also told the court that she was so much in love with her boyfriend, a Sarawakian, that she would do anything
to be with him and that she had to fly all the way from Johor to meet him here.

Titin, who worked in Johor, said they were planning to get married.

In passing sentence, the judge took into consideration the seriousness of the offence and Titin’s repentance.

For the first charge, she was sentenced to six months’ jail and for the second – seven months. The sentences are to run concurrently, to take effect from the date of her arrest on June 29.

Steven Beti Anom from the state Immigration Department prosecuted.