BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Feb 6 : Brunei's Magistrate Court on Saturday handed a 16 months’ jail sentence to a 41-year-old local for stealing a bag in an opportunistic move.

Fazri Ibrahim pleaded guilty to the charge and admitted to the statement of facts drafted by Prosecutor Ahmad Firdaus bin Mohammad.

Magistrate Harnita Zelda Skinner heard that Fazri, who is married with 13 children, went to a hardware store with his wife and three of his children. They waited in the car while he went in to look for a door hinge.

On February 1, at 1.45pm the defendant looked for a store assistant to no avail.

He walked out of the store to his car, and saw a sling bag on a bucket of paint outside the store.

He went into his car, thought about stealing the bag and went back into the store.

As he found no one around again, he went back out and took the bag with him.

Sometime later, the defendant looked inside the bag and took BND390, while disposing off the bag along with the rest of its contents into a large drain in Tanah Jambu.

A CCTV camera caught footage of the defendant taking the bag. This aided in the investigations leading to his arrest when the owner of the bag filed a report.

The owner suffered a loss amounting to BND1,013.

 - ANN