Street vendor Taiping pleads guilty to setting fire to motorcycle over repossession dispute

TAIPING, December 30. A goreng pisang and apam balik vendor pleaded guilty to setting fire to a motorcycle last Thursday in the Sessions Court today.

Zainatul Rafeda Zainul Abidin, 43, tearfully pleaded guilty and expressed regret for her actions as the charge was read out to Judge Nabisha Ibrahim.

She was charged with mischief in setting a fire knowing it would damage a Honda RSX motorcycle worth RM7,000 belonging to 22-year-old Zainatul Syakira Amira Zaini.

The crime was allegedly committed at Jalan Masjid Pokok Assam at around 3.50pm on December 26.

She was charged under Article 435 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison and a fine upon conviction.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Fahmi Kamaluddin offered bail of RM20,000 on the condition that the accused refrain from contact with the applicant.

The seller was frustrated with the upcoming seizure of the motorcycle after 20 months of missed payments that set the car on fire. — Screenshot from Facebook/Aiman ​​Tak Kesah

However, National Legal Aid Foundation lawyer Ng Wei Jun, representing the accused, pleaded for a reduced amount, citing her age, monthly income of about 1,000 ringgit, her responsibility to support four children and her husband’s partial paralysis due to a stroke.

During the interrogation of Nabisha, the accused asked for the minimum possible bail, stressing that this is her first crime.

The judge subsequently set bail at RM4,000 with one surety, agreeing to an additional condition of the charge, and fixed Jan 14 for the presentation of facts and sentencing.

On December 27, the mass media covered the case of a woman trader who, frustrated by the impending seizure of her motorcycle after 20 months of non-payment, set the car on fire.

The video of the incident went viral on social networks. — Bernama