KOTA KINABALU: A 35-year-old woman in the Kota Marudu district was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay RM3,000 in compensation for stealing from the victim and using the victim’s bank cards to make purchases.
Kota Marudu OCPD Superintendent Simiun Lomudin, in a statement here on Tuesday (Sept 24), said magistrate judge A. Akhiruddin Acho carried out the sentencing for the six charges against the accused on Sept 23 at the Kota Marudu Magistrate court.
Previously, a short clip of a woman losing several bank cards (credit and debit) and RM1,800 in cash at the front counter of a food and beverage franchise in Kota Marudu circulated online.
The victim, a civil service retiree, lodged a police report of the incident on July 20.
Investigations found that the woman stole the money and used the cards to purchase daily essentials for her family. After seeing the viral video, she was planning to escape to the national capital, but authorities intercepted and arrested her at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) on Aug 12.
“The six charges were read on Aug 23, with the first charge under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft and the second to the sixth charges on unauthorised access to the debit and credit cards under section 4(1)(a) Computer Crimes Act 1997.
“The ruling also considered that the case has become a public interest,” said Simiun in the statement.
