KUCHING: The Magistrates’ Court here sentenced a man to eight months in prison for retaining a stolen car when he was arrested by the police in an integrated ‘Ops Ambang Tahun Baru’ last week.
Brendanly Hendry, 26, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Zubaidah Sharkawi to a charge framed under Section 411 of the Penal Code, which carries up to six months in prison or a fine or both, upon conviction.
He committed the offence of possessing a stolen Proton Persona car belonging to a 28-year-old man, in front of a shopping centre in Jalan Wan Alwi at 1.46am on Jan 1.
According to the facts of the case, on Sept 9 last year, the owner of the car, who returned from an eatery, realised that his vehicle parked at Lorong Desa Wira Jaya 2C, went missing.
The man filed a police report for further investigation and action.
It was only until Jan 1 when the crime prevention patrol team managed to find the car with a fake plate number that matched by the description.
The car driven by a man in a suspicious manner, was then detained for examination.
Inspection found that the chassis number of the car had been tampered with but the police could detect that it was a vehicle registered as missing by the victim on Sept 9 last year.
Insp Ammarsoffi Yusoff prosecuted the case while Brendanly was unrepresented by counsel.