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Manager convicted of raping schoolgirl BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Court - New 2 Sarawak

Manager convicted of raping schoolgirl

Posted: 24 Jan 2014 09:54 AM PST

by Natasha Sim. Posted on January 25, 2014, Saturday

KOTA KINABALU: The Sessions Court here yesterday convicted local restaurant manager Riduan Masmud of raping a 13-year-old schoolgirl.

Judge Ummu Kalthom Abd Samad ruled that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the 40-year-old accused.

She said she had given full consideration to evidence adduced before her during trial and after considering submissions from both the prosecution and defence.

However, the court deferred its sentencing on the accused to Jan 27 this year as the prosecution requested for time for them to obtain the victim's impact statement.

The courtroom was yesterday packed with members of the public, representatives from the Welfare Department and non-governmental organizations, such as Befrienders, Sabah Women Action Resource Group (SAWO), Good Shepherd Sisters and Seri Murni Crisis Centre.

Also present were members of the accused's and victim's families.

Riduan committed the offence between 9am and 10am in a car at the road leading to Kionsom Waterfall in Inanam on Feb 18, 2013.

The offence under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code carries up to 20 years' imprisonment and whipping upon conviction.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharuddin, who pressed for a deterrent sentence on the accused, said ample time is needed for both her and the defence, represented by counsels YS Lo and Timothy Daut yesterday on behalf of Ram Singh, to file their written mitigation and reply.

Meanwhile, Riduan is also facing an ongoing trial at the Corruption Court for bribing the victim's father into getting the victim to withdraw the police report against him for rape.

Counsel Mary Lee held a watching brief for SAWO, Women's Centre for Change, Penang (WCC Penang), Sisters in Islam and Mama Anne of Bukit Harapan while counsel Mary Florence Gomez is for Befrienders, Sabah Law Association and Voice of Children Malaysia.

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Man’s 15 years’ jail, nine strokes for raping, molesting stepdaughter upheld

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 03:47 PM PST

KOTA KINABALU: A local man lost in his appeal at the Court of Appeal here yesterday for a conviction of raping his stepdaughter, and two convictions of molesting her.

Justice Dato' Azahar Mohamed, who sat together with Justices Datuk Linton Albert and Datuk David Wong Dak Wah unanimously affirmed the 15 years' jail and nine strokes of the cane for the three convictions imposed by the High Court here.

In upholding the High Court's verdict, the three-man panel held that there was no reason for the court to interfere with the lower court's decision.

For the three charges, the appellant was jailed for five years and ordered to be whipped thrice each by the High Court here after setting aside his earlier jail of four years and two whippings each meted out by the Sessions Court here.

On the first count, the appellant had raped the victim at a house in a village in Keningau in January 2011.

He was convicted under Section 376 (3) of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail of 20 years and also liable to a fine, upon conviction.

In the second and third charges, the appellant had molested her at the same house in the same village in July and October, 2011, respectively.

The charges were framed under Section 354 of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum 10 years' jail and whipping, upon conviction.

Deputy public prosecutor Kwan Li Sa appeared for the respondent while the appellant was undefended.

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Appeals court to visit site where Teoh Beng Hock allegedly fell

Posted: 23 Jan 2014 08:38 AM PST

PUTRAJAYA: A three-member Court of Appeal panel which is presiding over an appeal in connection with a coroner's court open verdict decision in the inquest into the death of Teoh Beng Hock will visit the site where he was said to have fallen at the Plaza Masalam.

The site is the former location of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC).

Datuk Mohammad Ariff Md Yusof, who is chairing the panel, directed parties in the appeal to make an arrangement for them to go to the site to inspect the window of the building from which the DAP political aide (Teoh) was said to have fallen.

A date will be fixed for that purpose before March 28.

The other two judges who were also presiding on the panel were Datuk Mah Weng Kwai and Datuk Hamid Sultan Abu Backer.

"It is unprecedented," said lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, who is representing Teoh's brother, Meng Kee, adding that this would be the first time for Court of Appeal judges to be visiting a place of incident in an inquest.

During the inquest, coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas visited the place twice and the Royal Commission of Inquiry panel which was also set up to investigate the cause of Teoh's death, visited it once.

Earlier yesterday, the Court of Appeal panel heard the appeal brought by Meng Kee and subsequently, fixed March 28 to resume its hearing.

In today's proceeding, Gobind submitted on the standard of proof that a coroner's court should apply upon, when making a finding of homicide in an inquest.

He said the coroner's court which had heard the inquest into Teoh's death was wrong in applying the 'beyond reasonable doubt' test which imposed a strict or heavier burden on the deceased's family to prove their theory that the death was homicide, at the inquest.

Gobind said the appropriate test to be applied by the coroner's court was the test of balance of probabilities which only required evidence which was probable when making a finding at the end of the inquest.

He said inquest was a finding of facts and it did not have to be as strict as a criminal proceeding, which was based on the test of 'beyond reasonable doubt' as at the end of the criminal trial, punishment could be imposed.

Gobind said an inquest was not a criminal or civil proceeding but a quasi-criminal proceeding and therefore, a lower burden of proof should apply.

Meanwhile, Hamid Sultan pointed out that Section 328 of the Criminal Procedure Code did not impose specifically, any standard of proof. Therefore, he said, it could not be a test of beyond reasonable doubt or balance of probabilities test but it must be a lower standard such as 'reasonable suspicion'.

On Jan 5, 2010, the coroner returned an open verdict that Teoh's death was not due to suicide or homicide and found no third party involvement either, in the death.

On July 21, the following year, a Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by Federal Court Judge Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen (now retired) established Teoh's death as suicide.

Meng Kee subsequently, filed an application under Section 323 of the Criminal Procedure Code at the High Court on Sept 30, 2011 to have the coroner's decision reviewed.

The High Court in Shah Alam rejected Meng Kee's review application on Dec 1, 2011.

On Feb 2, last year, Meng Kee obtained leave from the Court of Appeal to appeal against the decision of the High Court.

Outside the court, Gobind said the Court of Appeal's decision in this appeal would have a great impact on how future inquests would be conducted. — Bernama

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Sex trafficking: Indonesian’s jail term reduced on appeal

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:55 AM PST

by Suraini Andokong. Posted on January 23, 2014, Thursday

KOTA KINABALU: An Indonesian man would now only serve eight years in jail after the High Court here yesterday ordered his 32 years' jail sentence for four counts of trafficking in Indonesian women for sexual exploitation to run concurrently.

Justice Chew Soo Ho allowed the appeal by Sabaruddin Munir, 40, against his sentence imposed by the lower court on March 12, 2013.

For each of the charges, the appellant was sentenced to eight years' jail after he was found guilty under Section 13 (e) of the Anti-Trafficking In Persons Act 2007.

The indictment provides for a jail term of between three years and 20 years and liable to a fine upon conviction.

The four charges accused him of trafficking in four women, aged between 19 and 31, at a premises at Jalan Hj Saman here on February 9, 2012.

The trial judge then had ordered Sabaruddin, who was defended by counsel P.J Perira, to serve his jail terms consecutively.

Chew, however, dismissed Sabaruddin's appeal against his conviction and a cross-appeal by the respondent against Sabaruddin's sentence was also dismissed.

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Court’s jurisdiction to hear PKR’s election petitions has lapsed

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 09:44 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: The Election Court heard yesterday that it no longer had the jurisdiction to hear the election petitions filed by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to nullify the 13th general election result of the Bagan Datoh parliamentary seat.

Bagan Datoh member of parliament Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's counsel Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin said this was due to the lapsing of the six-month period to hear the matter.

Hussein submitted that section 35A of the Election Offences Act (EOA) 1954 provided a limitation period of six months from the time of presentation of the petition.

"As the petitions were presented on June 11 last year, the six-month period expired on Dec 10, last year," he said adding that the respondent (Ahmad Zahid) had outlined five issues for the court's consideration.

Therefore he said the court should have also struck out the two petitions filed by PKR candidate Madhi Hasan and a voter, Azmi Sulaiman, against Ahmad Zahid.

He further stated that the petitioners had failed to comply with Section 38(1) of the EOA on grounds that the petition was not presented within the 28-day period of limitation.

Firoz Hussein pointed out that the charges of corrupt practice against the respondent by the petitioner (Madhi) was not clear and lacked facts.

Ahmad Zahid's other counsel Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun submitted that the petitioner (Azmi) had filed the petition on a premature basis.

Mohd Hafarizam said the petition filed on June 11, 2013 was defective because the petition was filed out of time in the event it had relied upon the alleged illegal practice of payment of money on April 19, 2013.

Madhi and Azmi had filed the petitions against Ahmad Zahid seeking the election to be declared null and void.

The hearing before Election judge Datuk Hasnah Mohammed Hashim continues today. — Bernama

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Motorist lands in jail because of RM50 bribe

Posted: 22 Jan 2014 09:30 AM PST

JOHOR BAHARU: A motorist who gave a RM50 bribe to escape a speeding ticket was sentenced to one day's jail and a RM10,000 fine by the Session Court here yesterday.

Tan See Khai,44, a manager, pleaded guilty after the charge was read before Judge Mohamad Haldar Abdul Aziz.

He was charged with bribing Lance Corporal Mohd Ariff Johari Mohd Zulkipli from Bukit Aman Traffic Police Branch based in Johor at 5.40pm on Oct 20 last year.

The RM50 bribe was as inducement so the traffic police officer did not issue Tan with a summons for driving over the speed limit at Km 17.7 Lebuhraya Linkedua.

In the same court room, Singaporean Lee Mong Seng,70, was also jailed one day and fined RM10,000 after pleading guilty to giving a RM521.50 (S$200) bribe to Shahrul Effendy Mohamad, an enforcement officer with the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD).

The bribe was as inducement so the SPAD offier did not issue him a ticket for operating a public transport service in Malaysia without valid permit at the Malaysia exit to Singapore, Sultan Iskandar Building at 11.20am on Oct 26 last year.

Mohamad Haldar also ordered the two accused to be sentenced to six months' jail should they fail to pay the fines.

The two were charged under Section 17 (b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 punishable under Section 24 of the same Act.

The prosecution was conducted by Ridzuan Abdul Malik of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Tan was represented by counsel CN Sritharan while Lee was not represented. — Bernama

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