Prosecutor to argue decision to bind electrician for three years

The Star, Thursday August 30, 2012

By JOSEPHINE JALLEH
josephine@thestar.com.my

(From URL: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/8/30/nation/11934440&sec=nation)

GEORGE TOWN: Deputy public prosecutor Lim Cheah Yit will file an appeal today against the Sessions Court's decision to bind over 22-year-old electrician Chuah Guan Jiu for three years to be of good behaviour after he was found guilty of statutory rape.

He is making the appeal amid rumblings of dissent over the judgment which followed a similar penalty handed down to former national youth squad bowler Noor Afizal Azizan for consensual sex with an underage girl.

Lim said: “I'm disappointed (with the judgment). It had been a consensual act between the two parties but the girl is still a minor.”

The father of the rape victim (who was 12 then and 14 this year) expressed his dissatisfaction with the judgment to reporters when they called on him at his Air Itam flat yesterday.


The odd-job worker, who is in his 40s, said he might seek an appeal for a more deterrent sentence against Chuah.

The widower declined further comment while a woman relative said that she, too, was unhappy with the sentence.

All Women's Action Society senior programme officer Lee Wei San said the organisation was “alarmed” by the ruling and the reference to Chuah's “bright future”.

A similar allusion was made in the case of Noor Afizal.

“This seems to have become a standard excuse for lenient sentencing in statutory rape cases. We look forward to reading the court's written judgment (in Chuah's case),” she said.

Protect and Save the Children executive director P. Nagasayee Malathy appealed to the judiciary to view such cases in the best interest of the victims to prevent future offences.

On Tuesday, Chuah was ordered to be bound over on a RM25,000 good behaviour bond after he was found guilty of raping the 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.

Meanwhile, a 54-year-old former police officer also questioned the court's decision.

Social worker Datuk Dr E. Selvarajoo said the convicted rapist should not be let off that easily.

“He should at least be sent to prison in the public interest,” said Selvarajoo, a retired sergeant-major.