Corpun file 13309

New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, 5 May 2004

36 years' jail, 20 strokes rotan for sodomising two children

By Sulaiman Jaafar

KOTA BARU, May 04: A 21-year-old will receive 20 strokes of the rotan and spend most of his adult life behind bars for sodomising two children.

Besides being given a stiff sentence, Zulkifli Mohd Radzi also suffered the indignity of being lambasted by Sessions Court judge Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh yesterday.

He was called "a wolf in sheep's clothing" and told that his act of sodomising the boys, 11 and eight, was all the more inhuman because he knew the victims.

The court heard that on April 22, he went to the victims' home and coaxed them to go out with him separately to play. He took them to a bush near a river at Kampung Kangkong, Pasir Mas, where he sodomised them.

The victims went home about 6.30pm and told their mother, who lodged a police report.

The prosecution urged the court to impose the maximum sentence, as the accused had inflicted injury on children.

Zulkifli, who pleaded guilty, fidgeted in the dock when asked to make his plea in mitigation.

He was sentenced to a total of 36 years' jail and 20 strokes of the rotan. The sentences are to run consecutively from the date of his arrest on April 23.

Copyright © 2004 NST Online. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 13338

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 8 May 2004

Cabby gets rotan, 20 years for rape

KUALA LUMPUR: A taxi driver was given the maximum sentence of 20 years jail by the Session Court here yesterday for raping a 21-year-old saleswoman in the back seat of his vehicle three years ago.

In passing the sentence that included eight strokes of the rotan, Judge Akhtar Tahir said that he could not find any mitigating factor for a lesser jail term for 30-year-old Abdul Ghani Abdul Karim.

Abdul Ghani: In his defence he claimed that he and the victim had sex before the incident.

He said the facts of the case were very serious and he could not agree with defence counsel Amer Hamzah Arshad and Sreekant Pillai that there was no physical violence.

"The victim had been taken on a terror ride for several hours and then forced to have sexual intercourse even when he knew she was married," he said.

The judge also said he could not agree with the defence contention that the victim had not been traumatised by Abdul Ghani as she took one day to recover from the incident before making a police report.

"I have also taken judicial notice that rape cases have been on a rise lately and therefore a deterrent sentence has to been passed," he said, adding that he has to consider public interest.

Earlier, Akhtar convicted Abdul Ghani of raping the woman, who was 21 at the time, in his taxi in Seputeh here, between 9.30pm and 10.30pm on Nov 29, 2001.

Akhtar said Abdul Ghani’s defence that he and the victim had sex several times at a hotel before the incident was merely an afterthought and could not be accepted, as it had not been raised at all when the defence cross-examined the victim.

He said that based on the testimony of the victim and the accused, that the victim’s testimony was "more believable" and the defence must therefore fail.

In mitigation, counsel Amer Hamzah pleaded to the court to pass a moderate sentence without any whipping on his client, saying that there was no evidence of physical or external violence to the victim, thereby not the worst case scenario of a rape offence.

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor S. Devanandan urged the court to pass a deterrent sentence to serve as a lesson to Abdul Ghani and would-be offenders due to the steep increase of rape incidents lately.

Corpun file 13349

New Sabah Times, Kota Kinabalu, 14 May 2004

Court Beat

100 foreigners jailed for illegal entry

HEAVY DOWNPOUR ... police personnel watch over the foreign detainees as they walked in the rain to the waiting police trucks after they were charged in the Sessions Court in Kota Kinabalu yesterday. They were then taken in a convoy of six police trucks to the Kepayan prison. A total of 113 foreigners were charged mostly for illegal entry and other offences. The men were transported in the trucks while the women, in a multipurpose van – By ROSIE INUS

KOTA KINABALU: The Sessions Court here yesterday sentenced a total of 100 illegal immigrant foreigners – including 14 women – from the Philippines and Indonesia to two months’ jail each for illegal entry.

Sessions Court Judge Datuk Nurchaya Haji Arshad also ordered each of the 86 men to be given a stroke of the cane each.

The foreigners, aged between 18 and 50, were arrested in the city centre here between this month and last month after they failed to produce any valid documents to allow their presence here.

Illegal entry is an offence under Section 6 (1) (C) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Amended 2002) that provides for a jail term of up to five years, a fine not exceeding RM10,000 and liable to not more than six strokes of the cane on conviction.

[...]

Corpun file 13562

Sarawak Tribune, Kuching, 14 May 2004

Man gets 36 years and whipping for raping 15-year-old girl

LONG PUNISHMENT . . . Shamsuddin to serve 36 uninterrupted years in jail and to be whipped nine times.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Shahrizal Shaari appeared for the prosecution while the accused was not represented in the appeal proceeding yesterday.

Copyright © 2003 Sarawak Press Sdn. Bhd. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 13564

Sarawak Tribune, Kuching, 18 May 2004

45 years' jail for attempted rape

JUST SENTENCE . . . Rosli waiting to go to prison for attempted rape of his teenage daughter.

The first offence was committed in the living room of their house sometime in February this year when the girl was in Form Two. He did it again sometime in March and April this year in her bedroom and living room respectively. Chief Inspector Mohd Nor Halizi Awang came in for the prosecution while Rosli was unrepresented throughout the proceeding yesterday. The only family members of the grasscutter who came to the court yesterday were his wife and a younger daughter (younger sister of the victim).

Copyright ©2003 Sarawak Press Sdn. Bhd. All rights reserved.

Follow-up: 25 September 2004 - Court dismisses man's appeal for revision of sentence (illustrated)

Corpun file 13384

Bernama Malaysian National News Agency, 19 May 2004

Whipping Demo In Schools To Instil Awareness Among Students -- Noh

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) -- The Prisons Department will hold whipping demonstrations in secondary schools from next month to create awareness among students on the harsh punishments meted out for serious offences like rape and drug trafficking.

Deputy Minister of Internal Security Datuk Noh Omar said the demonstrations would be staged in conjunction with the joint information sessions to be held by the department with the police to make students realise the severity of the country's laws and punishments in efforts to reduce rising juvenile delinquency cases.

He said emphasis would be on rape cases during information briefings on law as many teenagers were not aware that having sex with an underaged girl, even with her consent, could be convicted for rape, he told reporters at Parliament lobby.

Rape of under-18 girls, excluding murders, was high, especially in 2001 and 2002, with the age group accounting for more than 80 per cent of the overall rape cases reported, he said.

In 2001, 82.2 per cent or 1,140 of the 1,366 rape cases involved underaged girls, he said.

In 2002, 80.5 per cent or 1,152 of the 1,431 rapes involved girls under-18, he said.

Last year, 988 of the 1,479 rapes or 66.8 per cent were girls in that age group and till April this year, 396 of the 560 or 70.7 per cent of the rape victims were underaged girls, he said.

Of the 4,736 rapes reported between 2000 till now, more than half of the cases involved close friends (1,686), boyfriends (952) and new acquaintances (745) while cases involving unknown rapists were only 745, he said.

Noh said the government had set up a special committee headed by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad to study rape cases, including plans to impose harsher penalties, and to decide on the definition of rape.

In 2002, the government reviewed the penalties for incest cases to be more deterrent, he said.

Earlier, Noh told the Dewan Rakyat [Parliament] that there were only 10 rape-murder cases involving victims under-16 between 2000 and May 12.

He said this when replying to Shim Paw Fatt (BN-Tawau) and Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa). -- BERNAMA

Corpun file 13417

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 27 May 2004

Indon gets 54 years for rape

IPOH: An Indonesian lorry driver, who admitted to being in love with an underaged girl but denied having sex with her, was sentenced to 54 years jail and ordered to be given 15 strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court here.

Maaruf Mahmud, 33, of Felcra Changkat Lada in Kampung Gajah, had claimed trial to two counts of statutory rape and one count of having carnal intercourse against the order of nature.

OFF TO JAIL: policemen leading Maaruf out of the Ipoh Sessions Court after he was found guilty of rape and having carnal intercourse against the order of nature.

He was charged with raping the girl, then 13, at a house in Kampung Bandar Tua, Pasir Salak in Kampung Gajah in December 1999 and at a house in Jalan Manggis 6B, Felcra Changkat Lada between December 1999 and March 10, 2002.

Judge Rasidah Chik ordered Maaruf to serve 18 years for each of the two charges concurrently from his date of arrest on July 27 last year.

Maaruf was jailed 18 years for committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature with the girl at a banana plantation in Felcra Changkat Lada at 3pm in July 2002.

Earlier, the unrepresented Maaruf told the court he did not wish to make any submissions.

Prosecuting officer Asst Supt Mohd Rani Abdullah told the court that the prosecution had succeeded in proving its case beyond reasonable doubt.

"This is based on the fact that the accused had merely denied raping the victim and failed to make any supporting claims.

"The prosecution is also of the opinion that the claim by the accused that he was not in Malaysia in 2000 and 2001 should not be considered as he cannot provide an alibi," said ASP Mohd Rani.

He said the accused was unreliable and should be doubted because of his contradicting statements.

© 1995-2002 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)

Corpun file 13421

New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, 27 May 2004

Frontline

Striking fear into hearts of most hardened criminals

By M. Husairy Othman

TAIPING, May 26: WITHIN the walls of Taiping Prison, he is known as "Flogging Officer Number 1'' .

His job is to swing the cane at a minimum speed of 160kph and inflict maximum pain on criminals. Iskandar Zulkarnain Mohd Radzi, 25, says even the most hardened gangsters cry out in pain after the third stroke and those made of lesser stuff soil their pants after the first lash.

He has been whipping convicts for the past seven years. These days, he has an additional job — to show schoolchildren what awaits them if they get involved in crime. Yesterday, he demonstrated the art of caning on a dummy to about 300 schoolchildren at a school here.

The boyish-looking Iskandar said that he underwent a two-week course during which he was taught how to swing the 1.09-metre cane at a minimum speed of 160kph and produce a force upon impact of at least 90kg.

Before he canes a prisoner, he dons a surgical mask to protect his identity and also to prevent bits of skin and flesh from flying at his face.

Also on the school circuit is Jigeira Singh, 46. Iskandar fondly refers to him as the coach.

The veteran prison officer noted that a person can only be whipped a maximum of 24 strokes at any one time.

"If a person faints while being whipped, the whipping will be stopped and a medical officer will immediately attend to him," he said.

Jigeira also said the size of the rotan was standard and prisoners did not have the luxury of choosing.

"However, a smaller rotan, about half the size of the standard rotan, will be used on those convicted for white collar crimes," he said.

Those sentenced to caning also are not told of their date with the flogger. "We do not inform them earlier as we do not want them to be afraid." For every stroke delivered, the flogger is paid RM3. "This is justified as they suffer from the stress of whipping these prisoners," said Taiping Prison director Senior Assistant Commissioner Narander Singh.

Copyright © 2004 NST Online. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 13416

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 27 May 2004

Caning demonstrations: Loud and clear message

By Raslan Baharom

TAIPING: It was a caning that students of a school here will not easily forget.

"It's so frightening. I don't want to be caned like that," said Amirul Hazwan Nor Azmi, a plump-looking Year Five pupil yesterday.

Warders from the nearby prison had earlier demonstrated to the students of SK Taiping how whippings are carried out on criminal offenders.

Prison warder Kpl Jigeira Singh whipping an effigy to show how whippings are carried out on criminal offenders, at SK Taiping yesterday.

It was part of the school's zero delinquency programme, in the wake of increasing reports on truancy and students' involvement with gangsters.

Amirul Hazwan and his schoolmates also listened to a pep talk by Taiping prison warders, led by their newly posted prison director Narander Singh.

The warders also put up an exhibition of photos of bleeding buttocks of convicts who were whipped for various offences.

Present during the whipping demonstration, done on an effigy, were the school headmaster Mohd Noor Rashid Youb and its parent-teacher association chairman Zailani Hashim.

Zailani told reporters that the demonstration was merely to remind the pupils not to indulge in crime.

"It should not be misconstrued that much crime has occurred in this school," he said.

He added that the school had only seen a few mischievous acts, such as petty thefts involving pupils.

Narander Singh said the Taiping Prison had carried out about 20 demonstrations at primary and secondary schools as well as a college so far this year. He said the programme started three years ago.

When there were no demonstrations, his department would send a CD to be shown to the audience, he added.

© 1995-2002 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)

Corpun file 13429

Straits Times, Singapore, 28 May 2004

Students gets a 'painful' lesson on crime

Prison officers in Malaysia give whipping demonstrations in schools in bid to deter criminals

TAIPING (Perak) - Malaysia is taking great pains educating students on what awaits those who commit rape and other serious criminal offences.

Students wincing as a prison officer shows how a cane swung at 160kmh can leave even hardened criminals crying. -- NEW STRAITS TIMES

On Wednesday, Mr Iskandar Zulkarnain of the Taiping Prison, and his colleague, Mr Jigeira Singh, demonstrated the kind of pain a cane swinging at 160kmh can inflict on a criminal.

And the shock registered on all the faces of the 300 students at a primary school here. The sight and sound of the cane slicing through the air seemed so real. The only question was whether the caning demonstration would leave a lasting impression.

A whipping demonstration in school is the latest in a series of moves by the authorities to keep the country's young on the straight and narrow.

Internal Security Deputy Minister Noh Omar said last week that prison officials would visit every school at least once, in the hope that the experience of watching a prison official wield the cane may discourage young Malaysians from getting into a life of crime.

For some of the pupils, it was all too much.

They covered their eyes and mouths as the thick cane was brought down on the buttocks of the dummy used in the demonstration.

Student Siti Arbaiyah Hussin, 11, said she would definitely advise her family and friends to stay away from crime.

Another pupil, Mohd Amin Alias, 10, pledged to stay away from crime after seeing photographs of the injuries caused by whipping.

'The injuries are terrible. I do not want to get whipped,' he said.

Mr Iskandar said even the most hardened gangsters cried out in pain after the third stroke while those made of lesser stuff soiled their pants after the first lash.

He has been whipping convicts for seven years.

The boyish-looking Mr Iskandar said that he underwent a two-week course during which he was taught how to swing the 1.09m cane at a minimum speed of 160kmh.

Before he canes a prisoner, he dons a surgical mask to protect his identity and also to prevent bits of skin and flesh from flying at his face.

Mr Jigeira Singh, 46, a veteran prison officer, noted that a person can be whipped only a maximum of 24 strokes at any one time.

'If a person faints while being whipped, the whipping will be stopped and a medical officer will immediately attend to him,' he said.

Mr Singh also said the size of the rotan was standard and prisoners could not choose.

'However, a smaller rotan, about half the size of the standard rotan, will be used on those convicted of white-collar crimes,' he said.

Those sentenced to caning are not told when they will be flogged.

For every stroke delivered, the flogger is paid RM3 (S$1.30).

'This is justified as they suffer from the stress of whipping these prisoners,' said Taiping Prison director Senior Assistant Commissioner Narander Singh.

He said the whipping demonstrations were bound to be successful.

'People can see for themselves how the punishment is meted out and this is enough to deter these young children from being involved in crime,' he said. -- New Straits Times

Follow-up: 29 May 2004 - KL stops whipping demos after complaints

Corpun file 13845

Utusan Express online, Kuala Lumpur, 28 May 2004

Court

Two padi farmers jailed for raping underage girl

AZMAN Ahmad (foreground) and Yusrizal Yusof (background) were each sentenced to jail by the Sessions Court in Alor Star after being found guilty of raping a girl, May 27. - Bernamapix.

ALOR STAR May 27 - Two padi farmers were jailed for between eight and 10 years and ordered to be given six strokes of the rotan each by the Sessions Court here Thursday for raping an underage girl four years ago.

Azman Ahmad and Yusrizal Yusof, both 24, were found guilty of raping the girl, who was then aged 15 years 10 months, in a hut in Pida 2 1/2, Sungai Korok, Kubang Pasu, between 11.15 pm and 11.40 pm on Aug 21, 2000.

Judge Ghazali Cha sentenced Azman, of Kampung Pida 4, Tunjang, to 10 years jail and six strokes of the rotan and Yusrizal, of Kampung Guar, Tunjang, to eight years and six strokes. The sentences are to run from today (Thursday).

The charge under section 376 of the Penal Code carries a maximum 20 years jail and whipping on conviction.

In mitigation, Bahador Omar, counsel for the two, asked the court for the lenient sentence as both had parents to look after.

He also said that Azman had a liver ailment and needed treatment in hospital.

Deputy public prosecutor Rahamatullah Baharudean pressed for a deterrent sentence in view of the rape cases which are so rampant nowadays.

Ghazali also rejected the defence application for a stay of execution of their sentence pending appeal.

He said there would be no stay of execution until they had filed their notice of appeal, following which he would allow bail at an increased sum of RM30,000 each. They had previously been released on bail of RM5,000 each.

© UTUSAN MELAYU (M) BHD., 46M, Jalan Lima Off Jalan Chan Sow Lin, 55200 Kuala Lumpur.

Corpun file 13431

Straits Times, Singapore, 29 May 2004

KL stops whipping demos after complaints

KUALA LUMPUR - Just days after starting whipping demonstrations in schools as part of the government's efforts to curb crime, the Prisons Department has suspended its nationwide tour after complaints from a human rights panel.

The government had planned to take the whipping demonstrations, conducted on a dummy by prison officers, nationwide to show students the kind of pain that awaited them if they chose to lead a life of crime.

But the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) says the demonstrations are counter-productive and contrary to human rights conventions.

Commissioner Prof Dr Chiam Heng Keng said Suhakam was concerned the demonstrations would teach children that it was legitimate to use force on their peers either in the form of retaliation or punishment.

'Suhakam has consistently advocated the need to instil in our young and teach them about the need to recognise and respect the inherent dignity of all persons,' she said at a press conference yesterday.

The government recently launched a campaign to strike fear into the hearts of those tempted by a career in crime. It has held one demonstration so far.

Prisons officials say they have temporarily suspended the demonstrations to study the concerns raised.

Besides the demonstrations, students were shown photographs of injuries inflicted by whipping. -- The Star/Asia News Network

Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.