Four members of ‘Black Water’ car-theft syndicate gets nine years’ jail
UPDATED @ 10:51:40 PM 09-08-2012
KLANG, Aug 9 — Four members of a car-theft syndicate, known as the Black Water gang, were sentenced to nine years jail each by the Sessions Court here today after they pleaded guilty to 196 counts of accepting and hiding 98 stolen cars in June last year.
Judge Siti Noraida Sulaiman ordered the four men, Sim Cee Wei, 29, Lau Kuan Zui, 40, Wong Ooi Kay, 35, and Tan Ching Swee, 41, to serve the jail sentence from the date of their arrest on June 30, last year.
Sim, Lau, Wong and Tan were charged with 95 counts of accepting stolen cars at No.1, Lot 8638, Kampung Black Water Off Jalan Banting-Klang here at about 5pm on June 29, 2011.
They were also charged with committing three similar offences at Lorong Batu Nilam 21B, Bandar Bukit Tinggi here at 6pm on the same day.
They were charged under Section 413 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and fines upon conviction.
The quartet were also charged with 95 counts of hiding the stolen cars in Kampung Black Water, and three similar offences in Lorong Batu Nilam, Bandar Bukit Tinggi, at the same time and day.
The charge under Section 414 of the Penal Code which provides a maximum jail term of seven years and fine.
The stolen cars comprised 59 Honda City cars , Honda Accord (one), Honda CRV (seven), Honda Civic (two), Toyota Hilux (22), Toyota Rush (six) and Toyota Fortuner (one).
In mitigation, lawyer James George, who represented the four accused, asked the court to hand down lighter penalty as their offences did not involve the use of violence.
"Sim is single, but he has to support his parents and siblings, Lau has two children, Wong has to support his mother who suffers from diabetes and hyper-tension, while Tan has four schooling children," he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Nor Azilah Mat, who appeared for the prosecution, however, asked for heavier penalties as the crime had caused many to be victimised. — Bernama
