KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — A man was sentenced to 58 years' jail and 22 strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here today for committing six counts of armed robbery, involving losses of nearly RM21,100.

Judge Rihaida Rafie handed down the sentence on Awang Sazri Awang Talip, 26, who changed his plea to guilty on all six counts yesterday.

Awang Sazri was ordered to serve the jail sentences concurrently from the date of his arrest last Jan 27.

He was sentenced to 10 years' jail and four strokes of the cane each for the first to the fourth count and nine years' jail and three strokes of the cane each for the fifth and sixth count.

Before handing down the sentence, Rihaida said the facts of the case showed the seriousness of the action by the accused as the offences were committed in public places.

"Therefore, the court has to give priority to public interest than that of the accused, but the court need also take into account the guilty plea by the accused, who has no previous record," she added.

On the first count, Awang Sazri was charged with robbing clinic assistant Hazlinda Ali, 34, at knife-point by taking her identity card, driving licence, two bank cards and RM15, as well as a lap top and RM270 belonging to Klinik Halina.

On the second count, he was charged with committing a similar offence on property agent Cheng Yi, 47, by taking from him RM200, a handphone and an ATM card.

Both the offences were committed in Bangsar here between 2.35pm and 1.45pm last Jan 8.

The third charge was for robbing university lecturer Loh Sau Cheong, 47, of RM200, a handphone, bank card and important documents, and on the fourth count, for robbing a childcare centre operator, Norfarhana Zainuddin, 24, of her laptop.

The offences were committed at separate houses at Jalan Setiakasih 9, Bukit Damansara, Brickfields here at 1.45pm on Nov 26, 2012, and 6.30pm last Jan 17, respectively.

On the fifth count, Awang Sazri was charged with robbing at knife-point and causing injury on Nepalese furniture maker, Ghan Bahadur Oli, 38, and robbing him of a handphone and RM300 behind One Menerung building, Bangsar here at 12.50pm on Dec 10 last year.

The last charge was for robbing a student, M. Jayalakshmi, 23, of a gold necklace while armed with a machete at Help Residences, Pusat Bandar Bukit Damansar, at 1pm on Dec 10 last year.

Yesterday, deputy public prosecutor Suzanne Tiyon Bimen requested for the court to impose a sentence which commensurate with the offences committed, but in mitigation, lawyer S.W.Lim, representing Awang Sazri, said his client had three children and had to support the family. — Bernama