Trader faces jail, rotan for swindling 76-year-old with ‘miracle’ stone

JASIN: An Indonesian trader has been sentenced to 15 months in prison and one stroke of the rotan after being found guilty of cheating an elderly man out of RM54,500.

The trader had convinced the victim, 76-year-old Talib Dahlan@Jaslan, that a glowing stone he was selling had magical healing properties.

Rino Pito, 47, pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced by Magistrate Mohd Firdaus Saleh on Wednesday.

The offence, framed under Section 420 of the Penal Code, carries a maximum jail term of 10 years and whipping upon conviction.

The incident occurred on October 5, 2022, in Jasin Town.

Rino was unrepresented in court while Deputy Public Prosecutor Hanis Aliah Ahmad Kamarulnajuib presented the case.

In October last year, The Star reported on the case of Talib Dahlan@Jaslan, an elderly Felda settler from Nyalas who had been swindled out of his life savings by two fraudsters promising him a magical stone.

Following the discovery that the stone’s alleged healing properties were non-existent, the victim lodged a police report.

One of the scam artists had noticed that Talib Dahlan@Jaslan’s wife used a walking stick and offered the stone as a miraculous cure for all ailments.

To convince the victim, the fraudster placed the “diamond” in a plastic bag filled with water and claimed it would light up when submerged.