KUALA LUMPUR: An unemployed man was sentenced to 21 months in prison and four strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court, here today, for committing a gang robbery against an elderly woman, last year.

Judge Datuk Nu’aman Mahmud Zuhudi meted the punishment to Mohd Azizi Abd Rahman, 40, after the man pleaded guilty to the charge, and ordered the accused to serve a prison sentence, starting from the date of his arrest, on July 27 last year.

Mohd Azizi, together with an individual who has been charged, and another person who is still at large, was accused of committing gang robbery against Ong Lay Fu, 77, by taking RM6,000 in cash and two mobile phones from a house in Taman P. Ramlee, Wangsa Maju, here, at 2.30 pm on July 27, 2023.

The charge was framed under Section 395/397 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.

Earlier, lawyer Zainal Omar, who represented Mohd Azizi, requested that his client be given a lighter sentence, as he has two young children and a 76-year-old mother.

However, deputy public prosecutor Illya Syaheedah Mohd Razif pressed for just punishment to serve as a lesson to the accused as the incident involved an elderly victim.

Based on the facts of the case, at 2.30 pm on July 27, 2023, while the victim was in the living room of the house and was looking after her granddaughter, the accused and his two accomplices entered the victim’s house, armed with a shovel and a stick, and asked the elderly woman to hand over money and valuables, as well as threatening to hit the woman’s husband with the shovel if she refused to cooperate.

The victim handed over the money and the two mobile phones to the accused in fear, before the accused and his accomplices left the victim’s house with the items.