GEORGE TOWN: A salesman, who threatened to set his mother's house on fire if he was not given money, was fined RM3,000 by the magistrate's court here today.
Magistrate Siti Nurul Suhaila Baharin handed down the sentence after Kelvin Gun Soon Ming, 44, pleaded guilty to the charge which was read to him by a court interpreter.
"The court finds you guilty, and as such, you are fined RM3,000, in default of eight months' in prison," she said.
Gun had admitted to criminally intimidating his mother, Teo Siow Lian, 69, at her house at Jalan Angsana in Bandar Baru Air Itam here about 10.30pm on July 9, this year.
He was charged under Section 506 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation, which carries the maximum seven years' jail or a fine, or both upon conviction.
Based on the facts of the case, the bachelor had sought RM5,000 from his mother to purchase a car but she did not give him the money.
Earlier, Gun's counsel Yiew De Xien told the court that his client works as a salesman, earning RM4,000 a month.
He urged the court to impose an appropriate bail amount on his client.
"This is his first offence," he said.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Atikah Asharaf Ali called for a deterrent sentence as the victim in this case is the accused's mother.
"This is also to ensure he does not repeat a similar offence in future," she added.