JOHOR BAHRU: Seven men and a woman pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court here today to charges of criminal intimidation, extortion and wrongful confinement of a man at a house in Plentong last week.
Muhammad Aqmal Hafifi Mustafa Kamal, 25, Ahmad Rushdi Jumadi, 23, Muhammad Nur Shafiq Abdullah, 25, Muhammad Haikal Zulkarnain, 19, Mohamad Amierul Hakim Shamsuri, 23, Mohamad Danish Hakim Kamaruddin, 20, Syamsul Hamiey Saiful Razali, 19, and Nuredrianna Balqqisyh Anabella Norazman, 22, made the plea before Magistrate Atifah Hazimah Wahab.
On the first count, they are charged under Section 506 of the Penal Code with criminally intimidating Muhammad Faris Syahmi Mohd Ridzwan, 22.
For the third and fourth charges, the eight individuals were charged under sections 384 and 342 of the Penal Code for extortion and wrongful confinement, respectively.
On the extortion charge, they were alleged to have intentionally put fear into the same victim by beating him, thereby dishonestly inducing him to hand over RM650 via an e-wallet account and the keys to a Yamaha Y16 motorcycle to Mohamad Amierul Hakim.
On the charge of wrongful confinement, the eight accused were charged with committing the offence together with two others still at large.
The seven men were also charged under Section 323 of the Penal Code with causing hurt to the same victim.
All the offences involved the same victim and were allegedly committed at an apartment at Plentong, Masai, here between 10 am last April 18 and 4 am the following day (April 19).
The magistrate allowed the seven accused men bail of RM16,000 with one surety for all charges, while Nuredrianna Balqqisyh Anabella was allowed bail of RM14,000 with one surety.
The court set June 3 for mention to hear the facts of the case and for sentencing.
The prosecution was conducted by Johor prosecuting director Abdul Ghafar Ab Latif and assisted by deputy public prosecutors Nik Noratini Nik Azman and Nur Fatihah Mohd Nizam, while lawyers Norfarahin Mohd Yazid and T Nadarajan, from the National Legal Aid Foundation, represented all the accused.
