MIRI: A prison inmate was sentenced to 18 months’ jail and ordered to be whipped three times for cheating a man over the sale of a non-existent car.
Magistrate Leona Dominic Mojiliu meted out the sentence yesterday after Alvin Ong Yi Xiang, 28, of Desa Bahagia, Vista Perdana here pleaded guilty to the charges framed against him under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
He was liable to be jailed for between one and 10 years, whipped and fined, for each charge.
According to the brief facts of the case, the accused had deceived a 33-year-old man into paying a total of RM3,200 on three separate occasions for the purchase of a Proton Wira car, which did not belong to the accused.
The three offences were committed at 11pm on Dec 18, 2018 at a coffeeshop at Jalan Bendahara; midnight of
Dec 19, 2018; and 10pm on Jan 12, 2019, respectively, at a bank at Boulevard Commercial Centre here.
Ong meanwhile pleaded for leniency as he was currently serving a jail term in Miri Central Prison.
Magistrate Leona sentenced him to 18 months’ jail and one whipping for each charge, and ordered for the jail terms to run concurrently.
Meanwhile in a separate case, Ong was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment and one stroke of the cane after pleading guilty to a similar offence.
He pleaded guilty to deceiving a 31-year-old man, paying the latter for services rendered using a cheque which later bounced.
The offence was committed at 11.40pm on Jan 24, 2019 at a lot at Shangrilla Luak Bay Road here.
The court ordered the jail sentence for this offence to run consecutively from the earlier sentence.
Prosecuting was ASP Mary Ong.