KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: An Indonesian cleaner who pleaded that he robbed the petrol station he worked in because he needed money for his elderly father's surgery was jailed 36 months and ordered to be whipped twice.

Muhammad Marzani Ismail, 25, was also jailed 12 months and ordered to be given one stroke of the rotan for not having a valid travel document. The jail terms run concurrently from his date of arrest on May 21.

He admitted robbing Nor Azurra Azhar at the Petronas petrol station in Sentul of RM12,000, cigarettes worth RM300 and prepaid cards amounting to RM700 with three others still at large at about 2am on Sept 29 last year.

Pleading for leniency yesterday, Muhammad said he did not commit gang robbery for fun but to save his father's life.

"I was forced to rob the petrol station with my friends to get money for my father's surgery. My father is already 72 years old. And I have promised to return home in August," he told Sessions Court Judge Fathiyah Idris.

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