KUALA LUMPUR: "I did not do it for fun. I needed the money desperately for my aged father's operation."

This was the mitigation plea of Indonesian cleaner Muhammad Marzani Ismail, 25, who wanted the Sessions Court to impose a light sentence for armed robbery.

He, however, ended up with three years' jail and three strokes of the rotan.

He pleaded guilty to robbing a Petronas petrol station at Taman Setiawangsa here of RM12,000, Dunhill cigarettes worth RM300 and prepaid top-up cards worth RM700.

He committed the offence with three others still at large at 2am on Sept 29, last year.
He also pleaded guilty to another charge of not possessing valid documents at 12.45pm on May 21.

Muhammad Marzani and one of his three accomplices were working as cleaners at the same station.

He and his three friends had entered the station armed with a butcher's knife and threatened the cashier.

The accused was then asked by his friend to tie the cashier's hands, which he did, but he told the court he untied her after five minutes.

The victim was left in a locked storeroom at the back of the station, while the four escaped in a taxi.

They went to a construction site in Bukit Bintang to share the loot.

Muhammad Marzani was arrested by police on May 21 at 8.05pm at a petrol station along the Karak-Gombak highway.

In pleading for leniency, Muhammad Marzani said he was influenced by his friends, who had suggested the robbery to get quick money for his father's medical treatment.

He also told the court that he had promised his father to return home next month and he planned to get married in December.

Judge Fathiyah Idris sentenced Muhammad Marzani to three years' jail and two strokes of the rotan for his first offence and one year's jail and one stroke of the rotan for the second offence.

She ordered Muhammad Marzani to serve the jail terms concurrently from the date of his arrest.