PUTRAJAYA: A self-employed man has lost his final appeal as the Court of Appeal has upheld his conviction and sentence of 10 years in prison and two strokes of the cane for gang robbery.
A panel of three judges, comprising Justices Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Azmi Ariffin, upheld the Sessions Court's decision, which had convicted Mohd Azwan Taleb for the offence; the High Court had affirmed this decision.
Justice Che Mohd Ruzima ruled that the 10-year prison sentence imposed on Azwan was fair, reasonable and not excessive.
In delivering the court's decision, he noted that the victim had positively identified Azwan as the individual who had robbed her.
He further emphasised that the elements of the charge had been considered by the lower courts.
On June 23, 2022, the Sessions Court had sentenced Azwan, 38, and another individual, Faizal Izzat Zainal Azman, 34, to 10 years in prison and two strokes of the cane each for committing gang robbery against Nazirah Hasan Baseri, 47.
The duo had stolen several items, including a Honda Jazz car, RM350 in cash, an iPhone 6 Plus and a safe box key, in front of the victim's home in Taman Meru Perdana, Kuala Kuang, Ipoh, Perak, at 8.15am on Sept 6, 2019.
The High Court had dismissed the duo's appeals on Dec 15 of last year. Azwan proceeded to appeal to the Court of Appeal, while Faizal Izzat did not file any appeal.
Azwan's lawyer, Raja Mohd Iskandar Zulkharnian Raja Abdul Malek, argued that the victim's identification of Azwan was doubtful.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Zander Lim Wai Keong countered that the victim could clearly identify Azwan because the vehicle they were in approached her slowly, had non-tinted windows, and Azwan was not wearing a mask. – Bernama
