KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — A lorry driver who made headlines when he succeeded in making off with RM600,000 from a bank within 20 minutes without the use of weapons in 2017, was sentenced to five years in jail and fined RM8,000 by the Magistrate’s Court here today.

Magistrate Nurfarahain Roslan meted out the sentence on R. Kartik, 31, after he was found guilty at the end of the defence case.

She also ordered the accused to serve the jail sentence beginning today and a further six months if he failed to pay the fine.

The man was charged with breaking into the safe room of HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd and stealing cash of 600,000 belonging to the bank.

The offence was committed on the First Floor of Annexe Menara Milenium building, in Jalan Damanlela, Pusat Bandar Damansara Heights here between 1pm and 2.05pm on September 8, 2017.

In mitigation, Kartik, represented by counsel K.Ponnusamy appealed for a lighter sentence as this was his first offence.

Deputy public prosecutor Najihah Farhana Che Awang said the case took a long time to resolve.

"As a result of the accused’s actions, HSBC had to suffer financial losses. The case has also gained wide attention in 2017.

"Therefore, I request the court to impose a deterrent sentence to serve as a lesson to the accused and the public,” she said.

A total of 17 witnesses, including four defence witnesses were called to testify in the trial which began in September 2018.

According to a prosecution key witness’ testimony, the accused posed as a fire extinguisher technician walking in with some documents before making off with RM600,000 cash from the safe room.

The witness told the court that the accused was shown the location of the fire extinguishers before the theft occurred. — Bernama