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Friday August 31, 2012

DPP files appeal against decision to ‘free’ electrician

By JOSEPHINE JALLEH
josephine@thestar.com.my


GEORGE TOWN: The Deputy Public Prosecutor’s office here has submitted a notice of appeal against the Sessions Court’s decision to release the 22-year-old electrician on a RM25,000 bond of good behaviour for three years after he was found guilty of statutory rape.

Deputy public prosecutor Lim Cheah Yit said the appeal was done by the prosecuting side, which was not persuaded to do so by the victim’s family.

The appeal was filed on Wednesday evening at the High Court registrar here and the case is expected to be heard at a later date.

On Tuesday, electrician Chuah Guan Jiu was ordered to be bound over on a RM25,000 good behaviour bond after he was found guilty of raping the then 12-year-old girl on two occasions last year.

Sessions judge Sitarun Nisa Abdul Aziz, in her judgment, had said the court took into consideration that Chuah was a young, first-time offender.

“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.

She said another consideration was Chuah’s future.

The sentencing came in the wake of the case involving 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.

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