A MAN convicted of armed robbery and due for release from prison next week has had his prison sentence extended from three to 12 years by the Court of Appeal.

A three-man panel – comprising Justices Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali – also ordered Mohammud Rezwan Zuhaimi to be whipped four times.

Karim, who led the panel, ordered Rezwan, 26, to serve his prison sentence from November 17, 2019, the date of his arrest.

In delivering the decision, he said the offences committed were serious and that such crimes were rampant.

He said the Sessions Court and High Court had committed an error in imposing lighter sentences, adding that the offences took place at different places and times, and involved different victims.

Karim also said the court was using its discretion to impose one stroke of the rotan for each of the four charges.

The panel allowed the prosecution’s appeal for the three-year prison sentences to run consecutively.

On November 26, 2019, Rezwan pleaded guilty at Seremban Sessions Court to four charges of robbing 7-Eleven convenience stores in Seremban between November 1 and 14, 2019.

The Sessions Court sentenced him to one year in prison for each count with the sentences to run concurrently.

However, on May 5, 2021, the High Court allowed a prosecution appeal, increasing the terms to three years for each count, to run concurrently.

Deputy public prosecutor Zaki Asyraf Zubir had asked for the sentences to run consecutively, saying the offences committed involved different victims and at different places and times.

Defence lawyer Joseph Mathews urged the court not to change the sentence, given that the defendant was due for release next week. – Bernama, July 12, 2022.