Woman ehailing driver, accomplice jailed 21 years for robbing passenger

KOTA KINABALU: A woman ehailing driver and another man were sentenced to a combined 21 years' in jail by the Sessions Court for robbing a passenger in Tawau early this month.

Tawau Sessions Court Judge Awang Kerisnada Awang Mahmud sentenced Ziana Abdul Zain, 27, to a 10-year imprisonment while Hamzah Syed Hamid, 26, was given 11 years and six strokes of rotan.

The accused admitted to the charges under Section 395 (for gang robbery) and 397 (for robbery with the use of a deadly weapon) of the Penal Code on Monday (June 27).

According to the facts of the case, both the accused, and another suspect still at large, had robbed a 27-year-old man who had boarded the vehicle driven by Ziana, a foreigner, at the Fajar area at about 2.30am on June 14.

Besides the driver, there were two other men seated in the rear when the passenger got into the vehicle.

The driver and the two men suddenly demanded the passenger to hand over his valuables, with one of the men pointing a knife at him.

The victim, who lost a mobile phone in the robbery, suffered cuts to one of his fingers. The knife was believed to have been thrown into a nearby bush.

Judge Awang Kerisnada said the court had carefully considered the facts of the case as it being a public interest matter since it involved the ehailing service.

He said the court also wanted the public to have a higher level of awareness on their safety when using such services.