KLANG, Nov 5 — Four friends, including two teenage girls, were sentenced to three years in jail by the Magistrate’s Court here for jointly abducting a 12-year-old girl about a month ago.

Magistrate Siti Zubaidah Mahat ordered the two girls, Alyaa Zahwa Salim and Putri Nurul Suhaila Abdullah, both 18, Muhammad Asran Ghazalie, 23, and Muhammad Adha Abdullah, 20, to serve the sentence from the date of their arrest.

The four of them were jointly charged under Section 363 of the Penal Code with kidnapping the child from her legal guardian in Bandar Bukit Tinggi, here, at 3 pm last Oct 8.

According to the facts of the case, the four accused had taken the victim in a rented car to a house in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur, and was left there for four days before she was sent home via an e-hailing service on Oct 12.

In mitigation, their lawyer, Muhamad Saifullah Muhamad Azmi, from the National Legal Aid Foundation (YBGK) Muhamad Saifullah Muhamad Azmi, said his clients are young offenders and requested the court to impose a good behaviour bond for the offence.

“It all started due to a disagreement between one of the accused and the victim’s brother. They intended to meet the victim’s brother before taking the child away,” he said.

Deputy public prosecutor Nuruljannah Aimi objected to the good behaviour bond application as the case went viral and gained public attention.

“Kidnapping is a serious offence and the victim is 12 years old and was injured in the incident,” she said. — Bernama