Senior Magistrate Harnita Zelda Skinner yesterday sentenced Abdul Rasyid bin Jali to jail for two years and six months for theft after the local man pleaded guilty to three charges of car theft before the Magistrate’s Court.
Prosecutor Nurul Husna Abidin revealed that the defendant first stole a vehicle left with its engine running at a parking lot of a commercial building along Jalan Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien at 10pm on September 19.
The owner left the car idling to buy food from a store nearby.
Abdul Rasyid, who was in the area at the time, noticed the unattended car and stole it. He then drove the stolen vehicle to his sister’s house in Bengkurong before abandoning it by the roadside.
On September 27, the defendant was waiting for a bus at the PGGMB Building to take him to work at Gadong Wet Market when he grew restless as the bus took longer than expected to show up.
He noticed another unattended car that had been left with its engine running. He took the car and drove to the market before leaving it by the roadside.
On October 2, the defendant was walking along Jalan McArthur when he chanced upon yet another car left idling.
The owner had left the car unattended to visit a cube store nearby. The defendent took the car to Gadong, where he left it before heading to work.
The vehicle owners lodged police reports on discovering that their vehicles had gone missing. Probes into the cases led to Abdul Rasyid’s arrest. – Fadley Faisal
