The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 9 February 2000

Molester jailed

Navy recruit pays for seriously hurting child

IPOH: A navy recruit, charged with grievously hurting a six-year-old girl by pulling out her large intestines through her rectum, was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in jail and 20 strokes of the rotan.

Sessions Judge B. Sarala Pillai said the crime committed by 22-year-old Mohd Fairuzazahari Mat Aleh, who has been dubbed the Manjung Molester, was "too heinous," resulting in the girl not being able to lead a normal life anymore.

'MANJUNG MOLESTER'...Fairuzazahari was also sentenced to 20 strokes of the rotan for a crime worse than a child abuse.
STARpic by Kamarul Ariffin

A specialist paediatric surgeon had testified during the trial that the child had to undergo various operations including an ileostomy to rectify her digestive system because part of her large intestine was missing.

"The victim is a child. Hurting children is becoming common now. This cannot go on. The crime committed here is worse than child abuse.

"I have to send this message across by imposing a deterrent sentence," she said when passing sentence yesterday.

Fairuzazahari, who defended himself, was charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt to the girl at a sugarcane plot near the Manjung police quarters at 1.55pm on Dec 30, 1998.

He was found guilty and convicted on Jan 26 when his only alibi witness, Amir Bustamin, denied playing computer games with him in a shop in Sitiawan at the time of the incident.

His probation report which was read out in court stated that Fairuzazahari has eight other charges pending trial.

They include killing 10-year-old Nurul Shuhaida Ahmad Sabri on Jan 31 last year.

The others were for molest, rape, snatch theft, and a break-in, all said to be committed in Lumut.

The report also stated that Fairuzazahari, from Semenyih, was adopted and his foster parents were sickly. He has eight foster siblings.