SUNGAI BESAR, April 10 — A food shop assistant was sentenced to one month in jail and fined RM5,000 by the Magistrate's Court today for concealing the birth of a child by dumping the baby's body in the toilet of a petrol station.
Magistrate Siti Hajar Ali handed down the sentence on the 18-year-old after she pleaded guilty to the charge.
She ordered the accused to serve the jail sentence today and to be jailed for another five months if she failed to pay the fine.
The teenager was charged with committing the offence in the women's toilet at the Petronas Petrol Station, Kampung Sungai Haji Dorani, at 11am on March 23.
The charge was framed under Section 318 of the Penal Code, which provides a maximum jail sentence of two years, a fine, or both upon conviction.
In mitigation, her lawyer Muhd Muqri Mohd Khairi from the National Legal Aid Foundation told the court that his client lives with her mother, who is a single mother with a low income.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Nor Hakimi Mohamad Rosedin led the prosecution.
— Bernama