KUCHING: The Sessions Court here yesterday sentenced an unemployed woman, her uncle, and a male friend to seven years in jail each for committing armed robbery in Petra Jaya two years ago.
Nur Adirra Mohammad Umar, 21; her uncle Awang Jeffery Awang Joni, 29; and Mohd Azlan Muhaili, 32, pleaded guilty to robbing a man of his mobile phone on July 25, 2016. Awang Jeffery and Mohd Azlan will each also receive five strokes of the rotan.
Judge Marutin Pagan convicted them under Section 395 of the Penal Code read together with Section 397 of the same Code.
Nur Adirra had pleaded for leniency, claiming she was only going along with Awang Jeffery and Mohd Azlan. However, Marutin pointed out that she was also a perpetrator.
Awang Jeffery and Mohd Azlan also requested to serve their custodial sentence at Sri Aman Prison, because they have relatives who could visit them there.
DPP Azahari Yusof urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence not only to teach them a lesson, but also because of the nature of the offence.
According to the facts of the case, Nur Adirra – the first accused, invited the victim, whom she had just befriended through WeChat, to a house at Kampung Lintang here.
They went to meet her relatives, later identified as the second and third accused, who then brought the then 18-year-old victim to the Samariang cemetery around 4pm.
Upon reaching the cemetery, all the three accused – armed with a vegetable knife and machete – forced the victim to surrender his valuables and remove his shirt. He somehow managed to escape and run to a nearby housing area for help, and was brought to a police station.
Police detained Nur Adirra on Aug 12, 2016, which led to the arrest of Awang Jeffery on Aug 21, 2016, and Mohd Azlan on Oct 13, 2016.