A 67-year-old painter has denied charges of damaging 13 ATM screens at three banks in Jinjang, causing losses exceeding RM69,000.

KUALA LUMPUR: A 67-year-old painter pleaded not guilty at four Magistrates’ Courts today to charges of breaking 13 automatic teller machine screens at three banks in Jinjang last week.

Leong Kuen made the plea after the charges were read before Magistrates Aina Azahra Arifin, Atiqah Mohamed Saim, Nurul Izzah Hasan Basri and Faezahnoor Hassan.

According to the charges, he used a piece of stone to break the screens between 8 am on February 16 and 9.44 pm on February 17. The alleged acts caused losses totalling RM45,183.20 to Maybank and RM24,257.76 to RHB Bank.

He faces an additional charge of mischief for allegedly punching the cover panel of a cash deposit machine at Maybank Jinjang Selatan. This act reportedly caused a loss of RM800 to the bank at 10 pm on February 16.

All offences were allegedly committed at Public Bank, Maybank and RHB Bank premises around Jinjang Utara and Jinjang Selatan. The charges are framed under Section 427 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine, or both.

For all charges, the four courts granted the accused bail of RM14,300 with one surety. The case has been set for re-mention on April 7 and 20.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutors Hench Goh, Nur Farhana Mohamad Poad, Nurul Farhanah Arul Hisham and Nurainizatul Farhana Zainal. The accused was not represented by a lawyer.

Police had earlier arrested a local man on February 18 in connection with the incidents. Sentul district police chief ACP Basri Sagoni said the suspect was arrested at 3.21 pm, with police seizing a motorcycle, a helmet, clothes and a piece of rock.

A video showing a man breaking ATM machine screens went viral on social media last week.

 The Sun Malaysia