A ‘pisang goreng’ seller was sentenced to two years in prison after he admitted to abducting two girls aged 6 and 8 at Taman Ikan Emas in Jeram, Kuala Selangor last week.
The guilty plea was made by Mohamed Shahriza Othman when the two charges were read out separately before magistrate Siti Hajar Ali.
M’sian man admits to kidnapping 2 girls from their home
According to the case facts, Shahriza committed the offense on July 19 at 6.30pm, where he approached the girls who were playing in front of their house in a Perodua Bezza.
He then asked them to join him in sending letters and gave them RM50 as a reward. The two girls proceeded to follow him to a grocery shop, went for a ride around Jeram, and went to Shahrizan’s house before he dropped them home at 7.45pm.
During the girls’ absence, a police report was made at 7.06pm regarding their disappearance, where a man stated that his daughter and her friend had been whisked away in a Perodua Bezza.
At 2.40am, Shahrizan was nabbed by police in Jalan Pawang Jalil and later charged under Section 363 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of seven years and a fine.
‘He wanted daughters’
Shahrizan was represented by National Legal Aid Foundation lawyer Muhd Muqri Mohd Khairi while Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Sofea Jaysal prosecuted.
In mitigation, Muhd Muqri asked for lighter sentence for both charges, saying that Sharizan expressed remorse for his actions and had voluntarily sent the girls home.
I was told that Shahriza resorted to his actions because he longed for daughters. He has two sons and he has yet to be blessed with a daughter.
“He is his family’s sole breadwinner and his wife is a housewife. This is his first offence, and he was remanded for five days and cooperated with the police,” he said as quoted by NST.
However, Nurul Sofea disagreed, arguing that the case was of public interest and that there was a spate of kidnapping cases recently before asking the court to let the sentences run consecutively
Ultimately, Siti Hajar sentenced Shahrizan to 12 months’ and 24-months’ jail, as well as a RM2,000 fine in default two months’ jail for both charges.
She then ordered the sentences to be served concurrently, noting that Shahrizan had indeed express regret for his actions.
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