By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Aug 28: A Sessions Court judge today handed down prison terms of 10 years and six strokes of the cane each to two men convicted separately of raping the same 16-year-old girl in two unconnected incidents months apart.
Appearing before Judge Musli Abdul Hamid, both Daniel Arrazy Salmi Abdullah, 22, of Simunjan, and Irvan, a 20-year-old Indonesian national, pleaded guilty when their respective charges were read out.
The pair had no connection to each other; their only link was the victim, whom each man knew separately.
The earlier of the two incidents took place in the early hours of May 20, inside a rented room in Simunjan. Daniel, who was romantically involved with the victim at the time, was accused of forcing sexual contact on her during the encounter.
The girl reportedly kept the assault to herself at first, overwhelmed by what had happened, before eventually breaking down and telling her mother.
Her mother immediately took her to file a police report. A medical examination that followed found evidence of both recent and older injuries consistent with the assault.
The second case unfolded roughly three months later, in early August, at a workers’ dormitory attached to a restaurant in Serian. Irvan, who worked at the eatery as a cook alongside the victim, was accused of ambushing her as she walked toward the dormitory kitchen at around 9.30am.
According to the facts presented in court, he grabbed and groped her before dragging her into a nearby room. The victim tried to fight him off and attempted to call for help, but he clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet before the assault occurred.
Both men were charged under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
Alongside their prison terms and caning, the judge ordered each of them to undergo counselling during their incarceration.
Daniel will also be placed under police monitoring once released, while Irvan, as a foreign national, will be handed over to the Immigration Department for deportation after completing his sentence.
In a separate proceeding before the same court, Daniel was convicted of storing nine child pornography clips on his mobile phone while he was in police custody at the Serian district police headquarters’ criminal investigation office at around 1.25am on June 17.
For this charge, brought under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, he received an additional three years behind bars.
Judge Musli ruled that this term would run consecutively to his earlier sentence, bringing Daniel’s total jail time to 13 years.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Adriana Maisarah Mohd Farid represented the prosecution in both matters. — DayakDaily
