MELAKA: A 40-year-old Cambodian was fined RM3,500 by the Ayer Keroh Magistrate’s Court here after he pleaded guilty to stealing agarwood chips from the Melaka Botanical Garden Forest Reserve.
Magistrate Nur Afiqah Radhiah Zainurin meted out the sentence on Mohd Ali Sulaiman on Friday (May 8).
Ali, together with another individual still at large, was accused of stealing agarwood chips belonging to the Hang Tuah Jaya Municipal Council (MPHTJ) within the forest reserve at about 1am on Monday (May 4).
He was charged under Section 397 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34, which carries a punishment of up to seven years’ jail, or a fine, or both upon conviction.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Siti Nur Alia Safri urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence as the offence was serious and involved trespassing as well as the theft of commercially valuable agarwood chips.
She said the accused’s actions, which were motivated by illegal profit, had caused losses to the state government and affected the public attraction of the Botanical Garden.
Lawyer Amritpal Singh, representing the accused, pleaded for a lower fine, citing that the accused worked as a fisherman and had two children to support.
The court then set the fine at RM3,500 in default seven months' jail.
