M'sian ex-lecturer, 42, gets 30 years' jail & 12 strokes of cane for bank robbery shooting

A former college lecturer who fired a gun during a 2019 bank robbery has been sentenced to 30 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane.

42-year-old, Chai Kong Wee, also known as Chia Kong Wee, a father of two, admitted that he fired two shots in a bank at Glenmarie, Shah Alam, Selangor on Jun. 3, 2019.

On Feb. 11, 2026, the Malaysian High Court sentenced Chai after considering the facts of this case as well as two other cases in which he had previously pleaded guilty.

Chai had previously pleaded guilty to the Aug. 31, 2017, killing of a policeman and the discharge of a firearm in 2020 during a separate bank robbery on Sep. 3, 2020.

According to Free Malaysia Today, Chai was sentenced to 30 years' jail for each offence, and all three sentences will run consecutively.

2017 Merdeka Day policeman murder

On Aug. 31, 2017, at around 3:25am, Chai killed Malaysian Lance Corporal Valentino Mesa at a Subang Jaya police station in Selangor.

According to NST, he had gone to the station under the pretext of lodging a robbery report.

Instead, he attacked Mesa with a hammer, took his service revolver and shot him to death.

He was sentenced for this case on Jan. 6, 2026.

2019 Glenmarie bank robbery

Two years later, on Jun. 3, 2019, at around 3:50pm, Chai entered a bank in Glenmarie, Selangor and held a security guard at gunpoint before firing his first shot at the ceiling.

According to FMT, Chai wore a mask and ordered the bank's customers to lie on their stomachs.

He demanded that the bank tellers hand over all their money, firing a second shot at the ceiling.

The tellers handed Chai RM61,000 (S$19,600), and he took another RM76,220 (S$24,500) from the bank's cash room.

Bank staff called the police after Chai left.

In his Feb. 11 sentencing, he admitted to surveying the bank before robbing it.

2022 Puchong bank robbery & murder

On Mar. 11, 2022, Chai robbed a bank in Puchong and killed a 24-year-old security guard, Muhammad Aiman Hakim Md Zakri, in the process.

Chai was arrested later on the same day and brought the police to a car that held Valentino's service revolver, reported NST.

Jaspal Singh, Chai's lawyer, argued that his client suffered from antisocial personality disorder, but the prosecution said that despite his disorder, Chai knew the nature and consequences of his actions.

Chai had also committed several other serious crimes, such as firing a gun on Apr. 22, 202,0 which he pleaded guilty to in October 2025.

High Court Judge Adlin Abdul Majid noted that Chai would have likely continued committing other serious offences had he not been detained in 2022.

Top photo from China Press