Khidmat masyarakat tak memadai, remaja laku sumbang mahram diperintah ke Henry Gurney

Mahkamah Rayuan Putrajaya has ruled that the requirement to complete 120 hours of community service for a 19-year-old man was insufficient in comparison to the severity of his crime. The three-judge panel, consisting of Azman Abdullah, Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz, and K Muniandy, decided so after upholding the appeal by the prosecution to replace the community service with a custodial order.

Hayatul Akmal, who delivered the verdict, stated that the sentence imposed previously was not proportionate to the seriousness of the respondent's offense. The victim was a 12-year-old child at the time of the incident, and the act of sexual abuse occurred while the victim was sleeping at their grandmother's house in Kuala Perlis, between 12:30 am and 5:30 am on October 14, 2021.

The victim did not notice the incident initially, and when awakened, discovered a fluid on their leg. The victim's mother took the victim to a clinic on May 12, 2022, after noticing the victim's abdomen had enlarged, and tests confirmed the victim was pregnant eight months pregnant at that time. The victim was unaware they had been raped and did not realize they were pregnant.

The investigation later identified the perpetrator as the offender, and a chemical test confirmed he was the father of the baby born to the victim. The judge noted that while the character assessment was taken into account, it was only one factor contributing to the type of sentence. "We agree that the 120-hour community service order was inadequate and there was sufficient basis for the court to replace it with a custodial order, and to substitute it with a different order," the judge said.

Although the custodial sentence has already been served, the court still has the authority to change the sentence by ordering the respondent to stay at Henry Gurney School until the age of 21, as provided under Section 91(1)(f) of the Children's Act. On February 21, 2024, the Kangar Magistrate Court ordered the male to serve the 120-hour community service for six months, in addition to attending JKM (Department of Social Welfare) sessions twice a week for two years and reporting to the police station every month after admitting guilt to the offense.

The respondent was charged under Section 376B of the Penal Code, and during the proceedings today, the defense was represented by Mohamad Arif Aizuddin Masrom, while the respondent was represented by attorney Yayasan Bantuan Guaman Kebangsaan (YBGK) Izleen Ismail.