BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

A MAN who was detained by tenants at Tasek Lama Apartment last weekend was sentenced to a year in jail after he pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and causing property damage.

The defendant, Azri Hj Hussain, 37, yesterday admitted that he went to the apartment on October 19, with the intent to do drugs and steal copper wires from air-conditioner compressors located on the rooftop.

Documents submitted by Prosecuting Officer Muhammad Aiman Adri Ahmad Zakaria states that the defendant went up to the 12th floor and found a hole leading to the ceiling of the apartment below.

He used this opportunity to hide between the rooftop and the apartment ceiling until the morning.

On the same day, the tenants on the 12th floor discovered the defendant sleeping after they heard noises coming from the floor above.

Azri tried to escape when he woke up after being yelled at by the tenants.

Going through ceiling panels and exiting from the tenant’s apartment, Azri then used the elevator to go up and down between floors to evade capture.

Two other tenants managed to detain and hand him over to police that same day.

Damages caused by Azri were estimated at $150.

Azri in yesterday's proceedings, told presiding Senior Magistrate Lailatul Zubaidah Hj Mohd Hussain that he committed the offence out of desperation and his intentions were to sell off the stolen goods and benefit from the proceeds.

In delivering her verdict, the senior magistrate said that his situation was not an excuse to resort to crime.

After taking into consideration factors of the case, the court said that a custodial sentence was appropriate.

“A message must be sent out to the community at large that crime is not the answer,” said the senior magistrate.

Azri has been ordered to serve the jail term with immediate effect.

The Brunei Times