KOTA KINABALU: A woman, who stole a power bank to get money for her disabled child’s medicine, was sentenced to 60 days’ jail by a Magistrate’s Court here yesterday.
Wan Noorazelan Faatati Zulkifli, 23, pleaded guilty before magistrate Mohd Faiz Omar, to theft under Section 379 of the Penal Code which is punishable with a jail term of up to seven years and also liable to a fine upon conviction.
The accused was arrested for stealing the power bank worth RM80 from a premises in a shopping complex here on June 12. She was arrested on the same day after the complainant lodged a police report.
During mitigation, counsel Hamid Ismail for the accused, urged the court to pass a lenient sentence on the grounds that his client had committed the offence not for herself but in order to get some money by selling it to buy medicine for her sick five-year-old disabled child.
Hamid added that this was the first offence committed by his client and she had pleaded guilty as charged.
In a separate case, a woman claimed trial in the same court for theft.
Christina Balang, 32, was alleged to have committed the offence at a health and beauty care store in a shopping complex in Luyang at 10.30pm on June 17.
The offence framed under Section 380 of the Penal Code carries a jail term of up to 10 years and also liable to a fine or to whipping, upon conviction.
In mitigation, Christina, who was represented by a counsel from Yayasan Bantuan Guaman Malaysia, told the court as she is a mother of four children and was still breast-feeding her three-month-old baby.
The court fixed July 22 this year for case management and released her on a RM1,500 bail in two local sureties, pending disposal of the case.