KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 -- A man has been sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to desecrating a Chinese temple altar in Sunway City, Ipoh, last week.

Perak police chief Datuk Noor Hisam Nordin confirmed the sentencing in a statement today.

He said the man was charged in the Ipoh Magistrates' Court yesterday under Section 295 of the Penal Code for deliberately defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion.

The case began when a local man filed a police report on the morning of March 12 after discovering that a temple altar in front of his shop had been damaged.

"A review of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage found that an unidentified man had acted to damage the said temple on the previous night...