A woman was fined RM2,500 by the Ayer Keroh Magistrate's Court today after pleading guilty to engaging in prostitution using the WhatsApp application at a hotel last week. Magistrate Nabilah Nizam imposed the penalty after receiving the 39-year-old defendant's guilty plea. 

According to the charge, the woman, who is also a mother of three, was accused of soliciting clients for immoral purposes in a hotel room on Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho here at 9:40 pm on January 11. The act was alleged to violate Section 372B of the Penal Code, which provides for a maximum imprisonment term of one year or a fine or both. 

Earlier, lawyer Nuradzlyn Sharmine Azrin Sham appealed for the minimum fine because her client had reformed after being remanded for four days during the investigation, and it was her first offence. She stated that the challenges of raising three children aged four, nine, and 13, coupled with her husband's imprisonment, led the defendant to commit the offence. 

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Fiqri Haqim Zamri requested a proportionate penalty for the defendant. The court then imposed a fine of RM2,500, with three months' imprisonment in case of failure to pay.