KOTA KINABALU: The Magistrate’s Court here yesterday sentenced a man to eight months’ imprisonment for threatening a private clinic staff member with a machete.
Rodden Lo, 35, admitted to the offence before senior assistant registrar Herlina Muse, who presided as magistrate, to a charge framed under Section 509 of the Penal Code.
The charge is punishable by a jail term of up to two years, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
The undefended accused was arrested for threatening the staff member by brandishing a machete at her inside a car parked by the clinic in Penampang on November 12.
Prosecuting officer Inspector Suzie Kupit told the court that a police report was lodged by the complainant stating that one of the clinic staff was threatened by the accused using a machete.
Investigation revealed that the accused and his spouse had gone to the clinic to find out if his wife was pregnant following her late period.
Upon checking with an ultrasound, the wife was found to be eight weeks pregnant. The wife then requested for an abortion but was refused by the clinic staff.
The accused and his wife then left the premises without making any payment and when a staff member chased after them to the car park, the accused brandished a machete at the victim.
In pleading for a lenient sentence, the accused said he has a wife and two children to support while the prosecution pressed for a deterrent sentence to be imposed on him.