RI woman sentenced to prison in KL

RI woman sentenced to prison in KL

MALAYSIA: An Indonesian migrant worker was sentenced to a year in prison for kidnapping a Malaysian baby who she hoped to sell, news reports said on Wednesday.

Factory worker Evakartika Pitriana Arman Yunus, 27, tearfully begged a magistrate not to jail her on Tuesday after she pleaded guilty to abducting a four-month-old child in southern Malacca state on Sept. 21.

"I regret what I have done," Evakartika was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper. "I beg you not to jail me. I had no intention of kidnapping the baby, and this is the only mistake I have ever made in my life."

However, Magistrate Salina Ali Pitchay sentenced her to a year in jail and a fine of 3,000 ringgit (US$790). The maximum penalty she could have got was seven years in jail.

According to The Star, Evakartika, a native of Indonesia's Sumatra island, tricked a woman into handing over her baby for safekeeping by lying that the woman's husband had been hospitalized following an accident. --AP