KUALA LUMPUR: A scrap metal worker, through his counsel, expressed regret for robbing a Japanese woman and using her bank ATM card to buy four packets of curry spices earlier this month.
In mitigation, counsel Kalwant Singh, who stood for the accused C.Selvam, 35, said his client promised not to repeat the offence.
"He had used the victim's ATM card to buy curry spices for his family.
"This is my client's first offence and he is also the breadwinner of his family," he pleaded before Sessions Court judge Norina Zainol Abidin today.
Judge Norina sentenced Selvam to six years' jail and a stroke of the cane after he pleaded guilty to the charge framed under Section 395 of the Penal Code.
The charge sheet read that Selvam, along with another person who is still at large, had robbed Kayoko Shimada of her bag which contained a passport, a HSBC ATM card, a handphone and RM100.
He committed the offence at the five-foot way of Lorong Pudu 14, Bukit Bintang at about 7.10am on March 4.
Section 395 provides for a jail term up to 20 years and whipping.
The judge ordered Selvam to serve the jail sentence from the date of his arrest on March 13.
Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Muhairi Mohamed Noh urged the court to mete out a fair sentence and to take into consideration that the accused had used the victim's ATM card.