KUCHING: Three good friends pleaded not guilty before the Sessions Court here today for possessing dangerous weapons in a public place. They were charged with having in their possessions two machetes and two smaller knives last June.

Defendants Seman, 37; Jiew, 36, and Ting, 38, made the not guilty plea after a charge was read out jointly before Judge Jason Juga.

According to the charge sheet, they were jointly found in possession of those weapons in a Proton Wira vehicle in front of a restaurant at Jalan Tapah here around 8.15pm on June 27.

Therefore, all of them were charged with possession of dangerous weapons under Section 6 (1) of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958.

The section provides for imprisonment of not less than five years and not exceeding 10 years along with whipping if convicted.

It is understood that the car used by all the accused was a stolen car that was reported missing by a complainant based on the Sekama Police Station report.

Jason then allowed all the accused to be released on bail of RM3,000 each with two local sureties.

The court set a re-mention date for case management on August 24.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurfazlin Mahmad Zulhasnan while the three accused were not represented by a lawyer.

Meanwhile, in a separate court, all the three accused were also charged with possessing stolen property under Section 411 of the Penal Code.

All the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge after it was read before Magistrate Syarifah Fatimah Azura Wan Ali.

Syarifah then allowed the three friends to be released on RM1,000 cash bail each with a local surety.

The Magistrate’s Court set the re-mention date for case management on August 24.

Prosecution of the case was handled by Prosecuting Officer Inspector Mohd Adzmei Ahmad.