Self-employed man loses final appeal, has to serve 10 years in prison and is whipped for theft

PUTRAJAYA: A self-employed person has lost his latest appeal as the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction and sentence of ten years’ imprisonment and two strokes of the cane for gang robbery.

A three-judge panel, comprising Justices Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Azmi Ariffin, upheld the decision of the Sessions Court, which had convicted Mohd Azwan Taleb of the crime; the Supreme Court had upheld this decision.

Judge Che Mohd Ruzima ruled that the 10-year prison sentence imposed on Azwan was fair, reasonable and not excessive.

Delivering the court’s ruling, he noted that the victim had positively identified Azwan as the person who robbed her.

He further emphasized that the elements of the complaint had been considered by the lower courts.

On June 23, 2022, the Sessions Court had sentenced Azwan, 38, and another person, Faizal Izzat Zainal Azman, 34, to 10 years in prison and two strokes of the cane each for committing a gang robbery of Nazirah Hasan Baseri, 47.

The duo stole several items, including a Honda Jazz car, RM350 cash, an iPhone 6 Plus and a safe key, from outside the victim’s house in Taman Meru Perdana, Kuala Kuang, Ipoh, Perak, at 8.15am on September. 6, 2019.

The Supreme Court had rejected the duo’s appeals on December 15 last year. Azwan appealed to the Court of Appeal, while Faizal Izzat did not appeal.

Azwan’s lawyer, Raja Mohd Iskandar Zulkharnian Raja Abdul Malek, argued that the victim’s identification of Azwan was questionable.

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Zander Lim Wai Keong countered that the victim could clearly identify Azwan because the vehicle they were in was approaching her slowly, had untinted windows and Azwan was not wearing a mask. – Bernama