KOTA KINABALU: A father of four who resorted to theft to feed his family has been given a Compulsory Attendance Order (CAO) for three months by the magistrate's court here.
Magistrate Lovely Natasha Charles made the order on Hazwan Nizam Ahmad, 31, after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
He will be required to do CAO for four hours every day throughout the three-month period effective today.
Hazwan will have to serve four months in prison if he fails to fulfil the CAO.
The CAO, which is provided for under the Offenders Compulsory Attendance Act 1954, is an alternative of imprisonment imposed by the court to the offender, without affecting the lives of offenders in the community.
Hazwan admitted to stealing several goods, namely three Tire Air Car In Car, two Weska Tire Valves and seven Airjet Bold on Sept 30 at 4.30pm at Mr D.I.Y shop in Central Shopping Plaza, in Kepayan Ridge, near here.
The offence under Section 380 of the Penal code provides a maximum 10-year imprisonment jail or fine upon conviction.
The facts of the case stated the shop staff saw the accused take the items and left without making payment. The amount of loss was RM62.35.
During mitigation, National Legal Aid Foundation counsel Lim Ming Zoong @ Lawrence who represented Hazwan, applied for leniency, saying that the accused who works as a runner was the sole breadwinner of the family.
He was married and had four children.
When asked by the court why he stole the items, the accused who was in tears said that he was desperate to feed his family and had two months of home rental arrears.
The prosecution urged for an adequate sentence as a lesson to the accused.
