A 39-year-old man was sentenced to nine months in prison by the Ayer Keroh Magistrate’s Court for stealing women’s underwear from a self-service laundromat.
PETALING JAYA: A 39-year-old man was sentenced to nine months in prison by the Ayer Keroh Magistrate’s Court today after pleading guilty to stealing women’s underwear from a self-service laundromat for his own sexual gratification.
Magistrate Nur Afiqah Radhiah Zainurin handed down the sentence to Mohammad Hamdan Awal after the charge was read to him by the court interpreter.
According to the charge, Mohammad Hamdan dishonestly took several items of underwear belonging to a 26-year-old woman at a laundromat in Taman Tanjung Minyak Setia.
The offence took place at about 2.30am on Oct 11 and was charged under Section 380 of the Penal Code, which deals with theft in a building used for the custody of property.
Case facts revealed that the woman’s husband was doing laundry at the premises when he discovered that six sets of his wife’s underwear were missing.
After reviewing the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, he found that the items had allegedly been taken by the accused and subsequently lodged a police report.
Investigations found that Mohammad Hamdan had taken the underwear for his own sexual gratification.
During mitigation, prosecuting officer Inspector Nur Zaidah Muhamad Zailani urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, citing the nature of the stolen items and the intention behind the offence.
Defence lawyer Amritpal Singh, representing the accused, appealed for a lighter sentence, telling the court that his client worked as a delivery rider for an e-commerce platform and supported his mother, an older brother with a skin condition and a younger sibling.
The court ordered Mohammad Hamdan to serve the nine-month jail term from Oct 16, the date of his arrest.