KOTA KINABALU: Smartphone applications (apps) do live up to the hype, at least when it comes to helping police catch a snatch thief.
It was revealed in the Sessions Court here yesterday that a man who was sentenced to five years’ jail and a stroke of the cane for committing the crime was caught with the help of the victim’s smartphone.
Hashim Rahman, 28, was sentenced after pleading guilty before Sessions Court judge Duncan Sikodol to a charge under Section 379 of the Penal Code.
Deputy public prosecutor Luke Ressa Balang told the court that the accused who was riding a motorcycle snatched a student’s handbag containing her smartphone, MyKad, student card and a bank card at the roadside in Jalan Taman Pasir Putih, Putatan on September 18 this year.
Later in the day, the victim received an email from a software application named “I Caught You” which she had installed in her smartphone. The app recorded a picture of the accused trying to unlock the smartphone.
With the help of the image, police detained the accused four days later, November 22, and latter was positively identified by the victim during an identification parade.
In a separate case yesterday, local Kalvin Liew Soon On, 28, was sentenced to three years’ jail for attempting to break into a house.
Magistrate Norhamizah Shaiffuddin passed the sentence on the accused after he decided to change his not guilty plea to a charge under Section 457 of the Penal Code when the case came up for trial.
Inspector Syahrin Ali prosecuted the case.