Five months pregnant woman jailed five months for cheating

A housewife who is five months pregnant with her third child was sentenced to five months' jail by the Magistrate's Court here today for cheating.

Magistrate Salamiah Salleh handed down the sentence on Hidayatul Akmal Yusoff, 28, after she changed her not guilty plea to guilty today.

She was charged with cheating one Siti Dara Darman, 52, into prompting the woman to hand over RM9,500 to help expedite her turn to perform the haj pilgrimage.

The offence was committed at the Tabung Haji premises in Kelana Jaya on Sept 21, 2015.

The charge, under Section 417 of the Penal Code, provides an imprisonment for up to five years, or fine, or both, upon conviction.

Hidayatul Akmal was ordered to serve the jail sentence from the date of her remand, which was last Jan 12, when she failed to post bail after pleading not guilty to the charge.

In mitigation, her lawyer, Muniswer Poniah said her client was due to deliver in August.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Mary Phoon Keat Mee.

According to the facts of the case, Siti Dara had met Hidayatul Akmal at the Tabung Haji Complex in Kelana Jaya when she instructed the former to hand over her identity card and the money to expedite the haj process.

Siti Dara lodged a report after she did not receive any feedback from Tabung Haji and her attempts to contact Hidayatul Akmal failed.

-- BERNAMA