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Saturday February 2, 2008

SMS prank lands maid in jail

PETALING JAYA: An Indonesian maid who sent six intimidating SMSes to missing girl Sharlinie Mohd Nashar’s father last month was jailed seven months’ by a magistrate’s court here.

Sudarwanti, 27, who admitted to the charge of criminal intimidation, was calm on hearing her sentence yesterday. She smiled at her lawyer Cha Kian An, appointed for her by the Indonesian Embassy.

The maid, who came to work in Johor Baru last year, was ordered to serve her jail term from the date of her arrest on Jan 16.

Mohd Nashar received the anonymous SMSes from the maid for two days from Jan 10, a day after Sharlinie went missing.

Punished: Sudarwanti’s lawyer said she committed the offence because she could not stand the burden of her job.

Two short SMSes stated: Anak yu tdak akan kembali lagi krna ak dendam (your daughter will not return because I want revenge) and km diam bsa tak klo tak bsa ak buang ni budak (you better be quiet or else I will throw this child away).

Other SMSes included a warning against lodging a police report and that the girl had already become a victim of a lelaki kucing. (Lelaki kucing or Cat Man refers to the The Kampung Baru molester, the abductor who is said to have lured his young victims on the pretext of looking for his missing cat).

Mohd Nashar alerted the police who arrested the maid at Jalan Straits View 3, in Johor.

Pleading for leniency earlier, Cha said Sudarwanti, 17, had committed the offence because she was unable to bear the burden of her job, including caring for her employer’s child.

“She just wanted to return to Indonesia to take care of her grandmother there. That is the reason she attracted attention by committing the offence,” he said.

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