8, including ‘Bella', plead guilty to extorting, threatening to kill man
The eight accused were charged with committing the offences at an apartment unit in Masai, Johor Bahru, between 10pm on April 18 and 4am on April 19.
PETALING JAYA : Eight people, including a woman, pleaded guilty in the Johor Bahru magistrates' court today to charges of extorting, confining and threatening to kill a man last week.
The accused included Aqmal Hafifi Mustafa Kamal, 19; Ahmad Rushdi Jumadi, 20; Nur Shafiq Abdullah, 25; Haikal Zulkarnain, 25; and Amierul Hakim Shamsuri, 19.
Also charged were Danish Hakim Kamaruddin, 25; Syamsul Haniziew Saiful Razali, 20; and Nuredrianna Balqqisyh Anabella Norazman, 22, also known as 'Bella', Harian Metro reported.
They pleaded guilty before magistrate Atifah Azimah Wahab after the charges were read.
On the first count, they were jointly charged with threatening to kill Faris Syahmi Ridzwan, 22, with the intent of criminally intimidating him.
The eight accused and two others still at large were also charged with extorting Faris, by threatening to continue beating him up unless he agreed to pay them RM3,000 in cash.
This led to the victim handing over RM650 in cash and the key to his motorcycle to one of the accused, Amierul.
On the third count, the eight accused and two others were charged with confining Faris, while on the fourth count, the seven men and another still at large were charged with voluntarily causing hurt to the victim.
They were charged with committing the offences at an apartment unit in Masai, Johor Bahru, between 10pm on April 18 and 4am on April 19.
State prosecution director Abdul Ghafar Ab Latif and deputy public prosecutors Nik Nuraini Nik Azman and Nur Fatihah Nizam prosecuted while the accused were represented by Norfarahin Yazid and T Nadarajan from the national legal aid foundation.
Abdul Ghafar asked the court to impose bail of RM10,000 per charge for each of the accused, but Norfarahin sought a lower amount, citing their guilty plea.
She also said that three of the accused, including Nuredrianna Balqqisyh, were unemployed, four of them worked at a factory, while one worked at a club, earning RM2,000 a month at the most.
The court fixed bail at RM16,000 for the seven men and RM14,000 for Nuredrianna Balqqisyh. It also fixed June 3 for sentencing.
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