KUALA LUMPUR: A fraudster was sentenced to five years jail and four strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court for cheating three people of RM30,000 last year. Unemployed Mazrin Abd Aziz, 39, was convicted of committing two counts of fraud by posing as the owner of a home in Jalan Mutiara 4/4 Taman Selayang Mutiara, Batu Caves here. After finding him guilty of the first count of cheating a teacher to hand over a RM15,000 deposit for the purchase of the house, judge Norsharidah Awang sentenced him to two years jail and two strokes of the rotan. In sentencing, Norsharidah held that the accused’s testimony was just a mere denial without supporting documents and witnesses. “The court finds that the evidence provided by the accused was made up and no witnesses were called to the stand to support it,” she said ruling that the prosecution had succeeded in proving the case beyond reasonable doubt. Mazrin was charged with deceiving Nur Zaiti Ikmal Dzainuddin to hand over RM15,000 to him as a deposit to buy the house he claimed he owned at a restaurant in Batu 1/2 Jalan Ipoh, Sentul here at 2.30pm on March 3, 2014. Meanwhile, Mazrin was sentenced to three years jail and two strokes of the rotan after pleading guilty today to a second count of cheating store keeper Muhammad Nazri Ahmad Saghir, 33, and wife Fatimah Abdullah, 34. He was accused of deceiving the couple to hand over RM15,000 as a deposit to purchase the same house at a cost of RM280,000 at an Ambank building in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng here at 4pm on March 30 the same year. According to the facts, Mazrin had pretended to be the owner of the house and put it up for sale for RM280,000 on the internet through a website called ‘Mudah.my‘. Nazri and Fatimah dealt with the accused to buy the house that actually belonged to one Khairul Anuar Amin and were induced to pay a RM15,000 deposit and were further deceived to make installment payments into his bank account amounting to RM69,060. Mazrin who was unrepresented mitigated for a lenient sentence saying that he has to support his family members including his little brother who is still in school. Deputy public prosecutor S. Malini Anne urged for a deterrence sentence as it was a serious offence and one that was constantly happening in the country. “The accused knows that cheating people is a serious offence, yet he committed it anyway. The sentence must be served as a lesson to him,” she said. Norsharidah said since these types of scams were becoming rampant, the court must impose a heavier sentence on him adding that the accused also had other pending cases in court. She then ordered for the sentences to run consecutively from the date of the accused’s arrest on March 20, 2014.