- Joined
- Apr 9, 2009
- Messages
- 3,070
- Points
- 0
HE WAS overjoyed when his boss promised him a bonus before Chinese New Year.
He shared the good news with his wife. They were relieved that, finally, they could pay off their urgent debts.
But Mohamed Rizzal Salleh’s joy was shortlived.
Two days later, the 39-year-old delivery driver was told that there would be no bonus.
Mohamed Rizzal was so enraged that he hatched a plan to break into his workplace – to spite his boss.
He made away with $1,650 worth of cash and valuables and a lorry belonging to his company, which deals in plaster products.
He was jailed six years and ordered to be caned six strokes after he pleaded guilty to four charges last month.
Mohamed Rizzal is appealing against his sentence.
He was also disqualified from driving for 10 years. The charges included housebreaking, theft, driving while under disqualification and criminal breach of trust as a servant.
One other charge of driving without valid insurance was also taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court heard that Mohamed Rizzal was working at Yoke Mah Plasterceil company at Defu Lane.
Back gate
On April 1, he went there at 11pm and entered the premises through the back gate, which he knew was always left open.
Six hours later, at about 5am the next day – and after the employees had left – he forced opened the sliding window at the back of the office building and climbed in.
The man stole two computer monitors, a walkie-talkie, three CashCards and cash totalling $900.
Knowing that the company’s drivers usually left the lorry keys inside their parked lorries, he loaded his loot into one of the vehicles and drove it home.
After his arrest the following day, he led the police to the stolen lorry at the open-air carpark at Block 135, Lorong Ah Soo.
The stolen items were recovered except for the cash, of which only $2.70 was left.
The court heard that Mohamed Rizzal had been disqualified from holding a driving licence for all classes for six years from Sept 3, 2007, following a conviction for vehicle theft.
Asking for a chance to “straighten out his life”, Mohamed Rizzal tendered a handwritten mitigation in court.
He said that he was supporting his three school-going children and his aged mother.
As to why he had committed the offences, he told the court that about four days before Chinese New Year, his boss had promised him a bonus.
In anticipation of the extra cash, his wife borrowed money from her relatives to pay off some urgent debts.
But two days later, on the eve of Chinese New Year, his boss told him the company had not made money and there would be no bonus.
As a result of the turn of events, Mohamed Rizzal said his wife was scolded by her relatives for not being able to return the money she had borrowed from them.
His wife got angry and walked out on him, taking their children with her.
Mohamed Rizzal told the court that he was depressed and, in a moment of folly, broke into the company to make his boss angry.
District Judge Eddy Tham said: “What is telling about the accused’s attitude is that he appeared to put some of the blame on his ex-employer for reneging on the promise of a bonus. “Even if this was true, (he) clearly could not justify his action.” The court noted that Mohamed Rizzal has had a history of break-ins and theft dating back to 1985. In 2003, he was sentenced to five years’ jail for various property offences, including theft, housebreaking and fraudulent possession of property. Judge Tham noted that it was “quite disturbing” that Mohamed Rizzal had re-offended about two years after his release from prison in 2006. He committed criminal breach of trust in 2008 and two years later, he committed his latest offences.
