On Jan 17, 2016, M Gerbagaran and an accomplice robbed Chin Li Ying at her apartment in Damansara Damai, Selangor. Police dusted for fingerprints at the crime scene but no suspects were caught immediately.

Gerbagaran, 40, however, was later arrested for another offence and sent to prison.

After serving his jail term, police were able to match the fingerprints from his criminal record with those obtained in 2016 and Gerbagaran was detained on Jan 30, 2018 for the armed robbery.

Police had apparently paired his fingerprints with the earlier set obtained from Chin’s apartment, as such records are kept by the law enforcement agencies.

Chin was also able to recognise Gerbagaran during an identification parade.

The sessions court on Feb 4, 2018 sentenced Gerbagaran to nine years’ jail and ordered him to be given five strokes of the rotan after he pleaded guilty to the offence.

Today, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal and maintained the sentence.

Judge Suraya Othman, who led a three-member bench, said Gerbagran had placed a knife on Chin’s neck when committing the crime.

“The event would have traumatised the victim and the sentence imposed by the sessions court is not manifestly excessive,” she said.

Sitting with her were Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah and Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim.

The facts of the case revealed that Gerbagaran had been keeping an eye on the victim while his accomplice ransacked the house.

They fled with valuables, a mobile phone and RM500. The robbers also took with them Chin’s identity card and driving licence.

Deputy public prosecutor Dhiya Syazwani Azyan Mohd Akhir represented the prosecution while Arun Kasi appeared for Gerbagaran.