Two men in Kuching plead not guilty to armed gang robbery charges

KUCHING (Oct 15): A civil servant and a self-employed man pleaded not guilty in separate Sessions Court trials today to three charges of armed gang robbery.

Mohd Hissyalezwan Abdul Zamri, 27, and Muhamad Nasrie Razali, 25, pleaded not guilty to all charges when appearing before Judges Iris Awen Jon, Afidah Abdul Rahman and Saiful Bahari Adzmi.

The duo were charged with three charges, each framed under Section 395 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 397 of the same Code, which carries a jail penalty of up to 20 years and whipping upon conviction.

In the first offence, the duo armed with machetes robbed two Indonesian nationals on Sept 26, 2024 at a coffee shop in Moyan Square, Batu Kawa here at 5.10am.

The accused robbed the victims of RM325.80, 44 packets of cigarettes, 12 bottles of 1.5 litre mineral bottles, an E-pay machine and a smart phone.

In the second offence, the accused stole RM800 cash and a smart phone from an Indonesian woman at a cafe at Lorong 1B, Mile 10, Jalan Penrissen here at 5.30pm on Sept 28, 2024.

In the third offence, the duo robbed another two Indonesian men at 2.15am on Sept 30, 2024 at a cafe in Batu Kitang here and got away with RM100 in cash and a smartphone.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Ruvinasini Pandian and Cynthia Emmelda Jerry prosecuted while the two accused were unrepresented by counsel.

Judge Iris fixed Nov 19, while Judge Afidah and Judge Saiful respectively fixed Nov 14 for the pre-trial case management, documentation handover and appointment of lawyers.