KUCHING: A local man had to celebrate his 39th birthday yesterday in jail after being sentenced to eight months in prison by the Magistrate’s Court for possessing a stolen motorcycle.

The accused Jonathan pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 411 of the Penal Code which was read before Magistrate Syarifah Fatimah Azura Wan Ali.

According to the charge sheet, he was accused of possessing a stolen Yamaha motorcycle belonging to Mohd Shahibie, 38.

If convicted of the offence, he can be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than six months and not more than five years and can be fined.

The court set the accused to begin serving his prison sentence effective from yesterday.

Based on the facts of the case, the owner of the motorcycle lodged a police report when his motorcycle went missing near a grocery store at Jalan Setia Raja at about 6pm on May 11.

Acting on information given, on August 14, at around 8.55pm, a police team stopped the accused on sidewalk of a building behind a workshop because he was believed to be in possession of stolen property.

During the inspection, the accused was successfully arrested along with the loot, namely the motorcycle and a smartphone unit.

As a result of the investigation during the arrest, the accused was found to be storing stolen goods on the motorcycle and the chassis engine registration number had matched with the vehicle that was reported missing by its owner.

The prosecution of the case was handled by Prosecuting Officer Inspector Mohd Adzmei Ahmad while the accused was not represented by a lawyer.