French 'Spiderman' fined for climbing on Petronas tower

Kuala Lumpur, Sep 2 (ANI): French "Spiderman" Robert Alain Philippe was fined RM 2,000 after he pleaded guilty to criminal trespass for scaling the Petronas Twin Towers.

He scaled Tower 2 of the Twin Towers at about 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday in his third attempt to conquer the building, and succeeded about two hours later. Dressed in dark grey pants and a teal jacket, he was brought into the dock in handcuffs.

The 47-year-old was fined the amount in default of two months jail at the KL magistrate's court on Wednesday, The Star reports.

The fine was set by magistrate Siti Shakirah Mohtaruddin after he pled guilty to criminally trespassing a building belonging to Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre at Jalan Ampang here, a crime punishable under Section 447 of the Penal Code.

His lawyer Wong Kian Kheong pleading for a lower sentence told the court that Philippe was only climbing out of passion.

"Everyone has a passion and my client's passion is to climb tall buildings. He is not doing so for profit or publicity, he has caused no injury to the complainant, nor has he caused any damage to the property," he said.

Wong added that his client had decided not to climb anymore buildings in the city so there was no fear of a repetition of his crime. "He has a ticket to fly back to Paris on Sept 7," he said.

Wong added Philippe, a father of three children aged 16. 19 and 22, had also climbed for charity previously and had trained Malaysian fire fighters.

He also said the court should also take into consideration the fact that his client was certified as 60 percent disabled by French medical authorities, as a result of his climbing accidents.

Siti Shakirah, in handing down her ruling, said no custodial sentence was imposed as he was a first time offender. (ANI)