Wednesday August 29, 2012

One more escapes jail

By SIMREN KAUR
simren@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: Another person has been bound over on a good behaviour bond for statutory rape. This time, it is an electrician found guilty of raping his 12-year-old girlfriend on two occasions last year.

Sessions judge Sitarun Nisa Abdul Aziz ordered Chuah Guan Jiu, now 22, to be bound over for three years on a RM25,000 good behaviour bond.

She said the court took into consideration that Chuah was a young, first time offender.

Another repentant young man has been bound over for fi ve years to be on good behaviour for raping a minor. The sentence imposed on the 22-year-old electrician, Chuah Guan Jiu (pic), yesterday is the same as the penalty that former national youth squad bowler Noor Afi zal Azizan received for a similar offence committed two years ago.

“We also considered the fact that the sexual act was consensual and that he is a school dropout,” she said when handing down the sentence.

Sitarun Nisa said that another consideration was Chuah’s future.

Chuah, who was wearing a shirt and blue jeans, showed no emotion when the sentence was passed.

The court had on July 20 found him guilty of raping the girl, then aged 12 years and 10 months, at his flat in Air Itam between 7am and 1pm on July 18 last year, and between 2.25pm and 2.45pm the next day.

The offence under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code carries a maximum jail sentence of 20 years and whipping.

On Monday, DPP Lim Cheah Yit said Chuah had coaxed the girl into skipping school and following him back to his flat on the pretext of him being sick.

“They were dating and the accused should have protected her but he took advantage of her instead.

She asked him many times to take her to school but he said he felt unwell and took her to his home,” Lim had said when pressing for a deterrent sentence.

In mitigation, counsel Yusuf Idris said his client earned RM30 a day and was staying with his parents and a younger sibling.

“This is his first offence. He has a fixed job now and many years ahead of him,” he said.

Yusuf said his client had repented and urged the court not to impose a custodial sentence in view of Chuah’s age.

The sentencing came in the wake of the case of former national youth squad bowler Noor Afizal Azizan who was bound over for RM25,000 to be of good behaviour for five years after he pleaded guilty to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.

There was public uproar on Aug 8 when the Court of Appeal allowed Noor Afizal’s appeal against a High Court’s decision to sentence him to five years jail for the offence.

In a written judgment released on Monday, the Court of Appeal said Noor Afizal, who was 19 at the time of the offence, had not been “very much older” than the minor he had consensual sex with, had cooperated with the police, shown remorse, and given a guarantee that he would not commit such an offence again.

News

Wednesday August 29, 2012

One more escapes jail

By SIMREN KAUR simren@thestar.com.my

By SIMREN KAUR
simren@thestar.com.my