Dwarf woman who claimed to be royalty gets 38 months jail for 53 counts of cheating

AMPANG: A woman suffering from dwarfism who claimed she was the daughter of the Pahang Sultan was sentenced to 74 months' jail by two separate Magistrates' courts over 53 counts of cheating a cosmetic surgeon of more than RM1.2 million three years ago.
Magistrate Mohamad Firdaus Sadina Ali sentenced former insurance executive Rohaida Yahlil, 41, to 38 months after she admitted to 34 counts of cheating.
In another court, Magistrate Mohamad Izwan Mohamed Noh sentenced Rohaida to three years' jail after she pleaded guilty to 19 counts of cheating. The jail sentence for both courts will run concurrently from the date of arrest on Monday which means she will serve 38 months imprisonment.
According to the charge sheet, Rohaida was charged with cheating Datuk Dr Abdul Jalil Jidon, 60, by deceiving him into believing that she is Yang Amat Mulia Tengku Aishah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
The accused claimed that she had to make certain tax related payments to Bank Negara to enable an amount of money from overseas to be deposited and for the personal use of the Pahang Sultan.
Her actions prompted the victim to hand over the cash cheques to be deposited into the Maybank account of Khuzairiah Abdul Latiff, who is a friend of the accused.
All the acts were committed in Maybank Taman Melawati, here, between June 2013 and April 2016.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Zuhaimi Mahamad Amin requested the court to mete out a heavier sentence as the accused had dared to use the name of a dignitary in committing the act.
The accused, who was unrepresented, however pleaded for leniency on the grounds that she has health issues and had recently undergone spinal surgery.
"After all the money I had made, I gave it to my friends so that they will be always by my side," she said.
The prosecution was also conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Abdul Razak Raihanah.
Meanwhile, at the Sessions Court, Rohaida also pleaded guilty to eight charges of money laundering involving a sum of RM2,841,690 million.
Sessions judge Rushan Lutfi Mohamed set bail at RM300,000 with one surety for all the charges and ordered Rohaida to surrender her passport to the court.
Rushan set April 3 for sentencing.