OFF TO PRISON: Leong being escorted by the police after the judgement.
KUCHING: A habitual offender landed himself again behind bars after he pleaded guilty to committing armed robbery last April.
Leong Pin Chin, 25, was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in jail and five strokes of the cane for the offence where he also caused hurt to an elderly victim known as Chai at his house in Jalan Dato Mohd Musa in Kota Samarahan about 11am on April 4 last year.
Sessions Court judge Timothy Finlayson Joel meted the sentence on Leong who decided to change his plea to guilty during the continuation trial of his case.
Leong was convicted of a charge under Section 394 of the Penal Code which provides a maximum 20 years’ jail and whipping.
His custodial sentence is to take effect from the date of his arrest on April 6, 2011.
The brief facts of the case stated that 62-year-old Chai, together with his daughter in-law and his two grandsons aged six and seven years, were returning home when they saw a Perodua Kenari car parked in front of the house.
Chai went in and saw a man walking down the staircase of the house carrying big plastic bag and a knife. When he saw Chai, he rushed out of the house and slashed the elderly man for trying to stop him.
Leong then got into his car and rammed Chai’s car before he fled. Chai’s daughter in-law and her two sons were still inside the car all this while.
Chai later informed his son of the incident before he went to the hospital where he received six stitches on the injured hand.
Among items taken from the house were jewellery worth around RM20,000, ‘angpow money’ totaling RM4,000, a laptop and an iPhone.
Prior to the delivery of judgment, DPP Poh Yih Tinn urged the court to impose a hefty sentence on the accused.
Poh noted that the accused had not learnt from his lesson even after an eight months’ jail for theft in a previous conviction.
He said that Leong had the nerve to ram his victim’s car in an attempt to escape even though he knew there were children inside the car.
The court was also told he had used dangerous weapon and caused hurt to his elderly victim.
In mitigation, Leong told the court that he was the breadwinner of the family and his girlfriend was expecting.