Vietnamese man jailed, fined for supermarket knife attack, theft and overstaying

Nguyen Minh Hoa pleads guilty to five charges at the Butterworth magistrates' court.

Nguyen Minh Hoa being escorted by police at the Butterworth magistrates’ court today. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 A Vietnamese man pleaded guilty in the Butterworth magistrates’ court today to five charges, including attempting to injure an 11-month-old baby with a knife during an incident at a supermarket in Telaga Air last month.

Nguyen Minh Hoa, 36, entered the plea after the charges were read in Vietnamese by a court interpreter before magistrate Aini Adilah Muhammad Faizal, Utusan Malaysia reported.

He was charged with three counts of intentionally causing hurt to a Malaysian man, a Nepalese man and an 11-month-old baby boy by using a knife at Billion Telaga Air supermarket at 1pm.

He was also charged with stealing seafood and chicken worth RM180 earlier that day, and with overstaying for more than nine months on his social visit pass.

Nguyen pleaded for leniency, saying he had three children and his father had passed away.

The court then sentenced him to a total of eight months in prison for the theft and immigration offences and fined him RM20,000 for the assault-related charges, with a default jail term of up to 23 months.

The prosecution was conducted by Nor Aziah Hasan, while the accused was unrepresented. - FMT