KOTA KINABALU: A man was sentenced to 14 months’ jail and fined RM4,000, in default, one month’s imprisonment by the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday for cheating in the sale of a vehicle.
Marcus Liam, 57, who appeared before magistrate Stephanie Sherron Abbie, pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating, which is punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year and not more than ten years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to fine upon conviction.
The facts of the case stated that in August, 2014, the 44-year-old victim, who wanted to buy a car, had met the accused at a bank in Jalan Gaya where the latter induced the former to give him RM2,000 to facilitate the process of his bank loan for the car.
After the victim gave him the money, the accused deposited it into the bank but did not give a receipt of the deposited money to the victim. The accused subsequently told the victim to wait for the loan approval in a few days time.
After a few days, the victim became uneasy and contacted Marcus for a meeting. When they met, Marcus gave the victim a cheque and told him that it was the loan from the bank.
The victim then brought the cheque to another bank to get the money but the bank verified that the cheque was false and unusable.
In mitigation, the accused, who was unrepresented, told the court that he has a mother, who is ill and needed his care. He also said that he is afflicted with high blood pressure and gout which require him to take medications.
Marcus, who is currently serving a jail sentence for the same offence, also requested the court to have his sentence run concurrently with the current one.
On June 24 this year, Marcus was sentenced to 14 months’ jail and fined RM3,000, in default, one month’s jail at the Magistrate’s Court for committing a similar offence of cheating a man of RM3,000 at an eatery at Taman Canggih Commercial Centre in Jalan Tuaran here involving a car auctioned by a vehicle company on May 15.