Former convenience store worker jailed 36 months, gets 3 lashes for pocketing RM436

KUCHING (Dec 8): The Sessions Court here today sentenced a former 24-hour convenience store worker to a total of 36 months in jail and three strokes of the rotan for three criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges involving RM436 in 2017.

Judge Saiful Bahari Adzmi convicted Faizal Bohari, 39, after finding the prosecution had succeeded in proving a prima facie case.

Faizal had chosen to remain silent when asked to enter his defence, leaving the court no choice but to mete out a sentence.

Saiful imposed a sentence of 12 months in prison and one stroke of the rotan for each of the three charges.

The court also ordered for the jail sentences to run consecutively.

All the charges were framed under Section 408 of the Penal Code, which provides for between one and 14 years in jail, along with caning and a fine upon conviction.

Faizal, who was a store associate, committed the offences at the Jalan Sekama store between April 29, 2017 and May 2, 2017.

Based on the facts of the case, the store manager found that takings did not tally during Faizal’s shifts on April 29, 2017, as well as May 1 and 2, 2017.

The takings were short of RM99.60, RM173.80, and RM162.60 respectively.

When the store manager informed the field manager of the issue, the latter called for a review of the store’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage.

The footage on those dates revealed Faizal had taken money from the cash register and put it into his pocket.

The field manager then conducted an internal investigation and Faizal subsequently admitted he had taken the money for his own use.

Following the incident, Faizal failed to return to work for two days.

The field manager then lodged a police report for further action.

DPP Mohammad Fauzan Zamri prosecuted the case while Faizal was unrepresented by legal counsel.