• Today: October 12, 2026

Man jailed for Kampong Ayer house theft

A 43-year-old Bruneian man was sentenced by the Intermediate Court to two years and two months’ imprisonment for entering a house in Kampong Ayer and stealing several items, including air-conditioning units and power tools.

Pengiran Zunidi bin Pengiran Othman was sentenced by the Intermediate Court Judge Hazarena binti POKSJ DP Haji Hurairah after pleading guilty to house trespass with intent to commit theft, an offence under Section 451 of the Penal Code, Chapter 22.

The sentence takes effect from September 17, 2026, the date of his arrest.

The court heard that on September 13, Pengiran Zunidi was employed by a company, which was carrying out renovation work at a house at No 70’D’, Kampong Lurong Dalam, Kampong Ayer.

After refusing to attend work that morning, he subsequently resigned and requested payment of his outstanding salary.

While waiting for the payment, he went to the house and noticed that it was unoccupied.

Having previously worked at the premises, the defendant knew what items were kept inside and decided to enter the house with the intention to steal two TCL one-horsepower window air-conditioning units, a Dongcheng circular saw and a Realme C33 mobile phone. After leaving the premises, he contacted Muhd Khairuddin bin Mohammad, who lived nearby, and offered him one of the air-conditioning units and the mobile phone for resale.

The theft was discovered when workers returned to the premises at about 10.40am after leaving at approximately 9.15am to collect additional equipment, and a subsequent police report was lodged, leading to the arrest of
both men.

Police recovered one air-conditioning unit and the circular saw from Pengiran Zunidi, and the second air-conditioning unit, which had been sold to a buyer in Kampong Setia, Kampong Ayer, which was also recovered.

However, the mobile phone was not recovered, with investigations having revealed that it had been sold to a foreigner who had since returned to their country.

The phone belonged to a company  employee and had originally been purchased for BND200.

During the proceedings, Pengiran Zunidi, who was unrepresented, asked the court for leniency, explaining that he needed money to support his child following his resignation and promised not to commit further offences if given another opportunity.

However, the court considered several aggravating factors, including his deliberate decision to enter a dwelling house to steal, his familiarity with the premises and the fact that multiple items were taken.

The court also noted that Pengiran Zunidi had a previous conviction for theft in 2022, for which he received 16 months’ imprisonment, as well as a separate conviction for an offence under Section 427 of the Penal Code, for which he was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment and two strokes of
whipping.

The sentences were ordered to run consecutively, resulting in a total of 21 months’ imprisonment and two strokes of whipping. The court also discovered that his previous custodial sentence had failed to deter him from committing another theft-related offence.

In determining the sentence, the court considered previous Court of Appeal decisions that established a three-year starting point for house-trespass offences committed with the intention of stealing, which generally reduces the sentence by one-third when an accused pleads guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Given the seriousness of the offence and Pengiran Zunidi’s previous conviction, the court increased the starting point to three years and three months’ imprisonment before applying the one-third reduction for his early guilty plea.

The defendant was sentenced to two years and two months’ imprisonment, backdated to September 17.

 

SOURCE/AUTHOR : BORNEO BULLETIN/Daniel Lim

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