KUALA LUMPUR: A Nigerian national and his Malaysian wife were fined RM4,500 by the Magistrate’s Court here today on a joint charge of cheating a nurse into handing over RM1,550 in cash earlier this month.
Magistrate Mohamad Aizat Abdul Rahim meted out the sentence against Rustinah Egong, 41 and her husband Chigozie Kingsley, 33, a Nigerian, after they pleaded guilty to the charge read in Malay and English.
The court also ordered the self-employed couple to undergo a five-month prison sentence, if it failed to pay the fine.
The two were charged with committing the crime at Pangsapuri Puteri Satu, Taman Puteri, here, at about 2.35pm, July 1.
They were charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, punishable under Section 120B (2) of the same Act which provides for a maximum jail term of six months, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
Earlier, DPP Nur Fatin Mohamad Farid urged the court to mete out a deterrent sentence as the case was of public interest, while Rustinah and Chigozie’s counsel Muhammad Afif Che Had, requested for a minimum fine, as it was the couple’s first offence.
The media previously reported that the couple was arrested by the police at a condominium in Cheras at 12.05pm on July 6, following a police report lodged by a victim saying she lost money after being duped by the couple in a parcel scam. — Bernama
