BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

TWO men involved in theft at a staff house were ordered to serve 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to the joint charge.

Mohamad Musa Hj Mohammad Ali, 39, and Ali Bakar Mohd Hassan, 27, were arrested after a police report was lodged by their friend, the complainant, who suspected them of ransacking his room while he went on a day-trip to Miri on April 26.

Investigation found that the defendants did go to the address in the morning of April 26, and entered through the unlocked front door.

The defendants used a screwdriver to unlock the padlock of the complainant’s room.

Among the items stolen were jewellery, a coin bank containing $140, a window air-conditioning unit and two mobile phones. Most of the items were sold off.

Mohamad Musa who received $1,400 after selling the jewellery gave $100 to his sister and used the remainder on groceries and clothing for his children.

The police managed to recover the mobile phones and a jade locket.

In their mitigation before the Magistrates’ Court, Mohamad Musa told the court that he committed the offence out of desperation while Ali Bakar admitted he stole the items but regretted his actions.

In another theft case heard at the courts, defendant Mohammad Hazmi Awang Nasri, 31, was sentenced to serve 16 weeks in jail for attempting to steal aluminium beams from the disposal area at the Department of Civil Aviation on December 17, 2014.

Hazmi’s attempt to steal the beams was foiled when he was stopped by the site safety officer of TRC Company Sdn Bhd who saw the aluminium beams and called the police to arrest the defendant.

Upon investigation, Hazmi admitted that he had gone to the vicinity in search of scrap metals to sell.

The Brunei Times