Relatives of the accused assist the police to stop him from escaping.
KUCHING: A habitual offender who claimed trial to four counts of armed robbery charges in two separate cases at the Sessions Courts here has been ordered to be further remanded in prison after his bail application was rejected.
The unemployed accused Wan Mohamad Illyasaq Wan Eliya, 22, was set to stand trial Jan 19 and 20 and 21 next year for the two charges read to him before judge Dayang Ellyn Narisa Abang Ahmad.
For the first charge, he allegedly robbed a man of RM688 at 10.40pm on Oct 23 Panovel Commercial Centre with a knife.
He committed a similar offence on a young man in front of a hotel at Ban Hock Road at 5.10am on Oct 30. In the other two charges, he allegedly committed robbery at 7-Eleven outlet in Jalan Stutong at 3.44am on Oct 28 and used a penknife to threaten the worker before he fled with four boxes of cigarette.
Another charge was for robbing a convenient store at Jalan Tun Jugah at 2.10am on Oct 29 and was said to have used a meat cleaver during the incident.
The other two charges were read before judge Amelati Parnell who set March 2 and 3 for hearing.
The judge, who also denied Mohamad’s bail application, told him to inform his defence counsel Francis Wee on the hearing date. Wee was not present because he was attending another case in Sri Aman.
The accused also caused a chaos of sorts at the court house – acting aggressively when attempting to make a run while being escorted by a policeman to the court room prior to the mention of the case,
His attempt however came to no avail as the swift action by the police with assistance of his relatives, managed to stop him.
All the charges are read under Section 392 of the Penal Code read together with Section 397 of the same code which provides a jail term of 20 years, whipping and liable for a fine on conviction.
DPP Stella Augustine Druce and DPP Poh Yoh Tinn prosecuted.