Chandra (centre) with his deputy, Superintendent Mohd Azhar Hamin (third left) and other police officers with the recovered items.
KOTA KINABALU: Two hardcore criminals will spend 11 years behind bars for robbing and causing hurt to a businessman at his home in Austral Park, Kepayan, here early this month.
Both suspects, aged 26 with several criminal records, were charged at the Sessions Court here on Thursday and were handed up to 11 years in jail and three strokes of the cane for their offences under Section 394 and Section 397 A of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt when committing robbery and punishment for theft of a motor vehicle respectively.
City police chief ACP M. Chandra said both suspects were convicted of robbing the 36-year-old businessman around 1.30am on June 8.
“According to the police report, the victim was driving his four-wheel-drive Isuzu Trooper vehicle and as he reached his home, accidently knocked on his front gate, causing the gate to fall off.
“While the victim was carrying the gate alone, two unidentified men came to help.
“After carrying the gate and placing it back, one of the men requested the victim to call a friend.
“As the victim was keying in the phone number, one of the men then punched the victim on his face while the second men hit him with an iron rode.
“Both suspects then demanded that the victim hand them his money and continue to beat him up.
“The assailants took the man’s handphone and car key and left the scene with the Isuzu Trooper,” he told a press conference at the city police headquarters here yesterday.
Total loss was reported to be about RM17,000, he said.
Chandra said following the incident, police immediately set up a team and in less than seven hours found the vehicle abandoned in Jalan Bantayan, Inanam at 8.10am.
He said the discovery of the vehicle led police to the arrest of three men at an unnumbered house in Jalan Kibabaig, Penampang on June 10.
It then led to the detention of the mastermind at a house in Kampung Tatahan, Jalan Kionsom on June 17, he said.
Chandra said the police also seized close to RM30,000 worth of stolen items which included two CT 100 Modenas, two Yamaha motorcycles, a Demak C90 motorcycle, a bike frame and a motorcycle engine, eight handphones, a digital camera, a laptop, and several items believed used by the suspects.
He added that two of the suspects, including the mastermind, had been charged at the Sessions Court for their crimes while the other two men were released under police bail as they were not involved in the robbery at Austral Park.