GEORGE TOWN: The prosecution failed in its attempt to enhance a one-year jail term imposed on a Taiwanese woman for cheating a student of her money from her education fund.
High Court judge Datuk Abdul Rahim Uda, in dismissing the prosecution’s appeal yesterday, told Chen Hsiao Ting, 38, that she was very lucky because she had pleaded guilty to the offence.
The prosecution's failure to press for a deterrent sentence when the case was heard in the magistrate's court was also another factor, he said.
Abdul Rahim said the prosecuting officer conducting the case had left the sentencing to the court to decide.
"This court has considered both the defence's and prosecution's arguments, and the prosecution's appeal is disallowed," Rahim Uda said.
Chen immediately broke down in tears and repeatedly thanked Abdul Rahim.
Chen, from Taipei, was fined RM2,000 and sentenced to a year's jail by the magistrate's court last year after she pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating college student Lim Hui Lin, 20, of RM52,300.
On the first count, Chen was charged with inducing Lim, a private college student, into parting with RM12,300 and making her pay the money into a Gelugor Maybank account held by Thung Sook Kun, 24, on April 9 last year.
On the second charge, Chen was charged with inducing Lim into parting with RM40,000, which was paid into a Maybank account held by Lau Jin Bee, 24, on April 18 last year.
During proceedings yesterday, Chen's counsel Yeoh Soon Hin told the court that Chen should not have been put behind bars but instead rehabilitated.
He said Chen's guilty plea should be considered as a reason for a lighter sentence.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Norina Zainal Abidin said that cheating cases were both serious and rampant.
She applied for a heavier sentence to reflect the seriousness of the offence.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/N...cle/index_html
Appeal for heavier sentence for woman who conned student rejected 
Linear Mode
