Senior officer's driver pleads guilty to house breaking charges
By Malai FadleyRizal

A personal driver of a senior police officer was remanded until January 12 after he pleaded guilty to one charge of house-breaking by night, another charge of house-breaking, two charges of committing mischief and one charge of committing theft before the High Court Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Indonesian, Soleh Permana, has been remanded pending sentencing.

Prosecuting Officer Shamshuddin Hj Kamaluddin preferred charges which the defendant admitted to the first charge of committing house-breaking by night by entering into the house of Superintendent Mohd Faisal Al-Sufri Hj Adinin, a building used as a human dwelling, in the wee hours in order to commission a certain offence punishable with imprisonment, to wit, an offence of theft, and thereby committing an offence punishable under section 457 of the Penal Code (Chapter 22).

Soleh is facing a maximum jail term of 15 years with whipping for the first charge.

A second charge read that Soleh had committed mischief by causing damage amounting to $780 to the perimeter fencing near house No. B9, Gadong Police Headquarters by cutting the fence with pliers on December 13 last year between 4 pm and 6.30 pm.

This charge carries a penalty of jail term which may extend to 5 years and whipping of not less than two strokes.

The third charge preferred against him stated that the defendant had committed house-breaking by entering into the house of Lt. Col. (retired) Haji Othman Hj Hasbollah, a building used as a human dwelling, in order to commission a certain offence punishable with imprisonment, to wit, an offence of theft, and thereby had committed an offence punishable under section 454 of the Penal Code (Chapter 22).

The third charge carries a maximum 10-year jail term and whipping.

The fourth charge was that Soleh had committed mischief by causing damage amounting to $220 to a bedroom door by kicking the locked door open at house No. 6 in Tasek Garden, Spg 284-22-2-30 at Jalan Lambak in Kg Lambak Kanan on November 26 last year sometime between 10 am and 11 am and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 427 of the Penal Code.

The offence carries a jail term which may extend to 5 years and whipping of not less than two strokes.

The fifth charge preferred against the defendant stated that he had committed theft in a building used as a human dwelling on September 5, 2002 sometime between 7 pm and 9 pm at house No. 5, Spg 462-61 in Jalan Sungai Hanching Baru and thereby had committed an offence punishable under section 380 of the Penal Code.

The offence carries a penalty of a maximum jail term of 7 years and fine.

The items stolen were listed by the prosecution as jewellery valued at $7,000, eight watches valued at $2,000, a Pevy VCD player valued at $300, cash amounting to $270, two bank ATM cards, two credit cards, seven passports belonging to workers of Hj Hamidon Hj Abdul Hamid, one Nokia 3310 mobile phone, one Alcatel mobile phone, a bunch of keys to a car, office and a house, driving licence, two bank account books and two local identity cards.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin