[RicyReetred]

Jail, rotan for raping mute woman

2010/08/07

KUALA LUMPUR: A 24-year-old unemployed man was sentenced to 15 years' jail and five strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court yesterday for raping a mute hotel worker. Judge Fathiyah Idris ordered Mohd Khairul Nizam Mohamad Shafiai to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest on Dec 31, 2006.

Khairul of Taman Danau Desa was charged with raping the 29-year-old woman at a room in Hotel Metro, off Jalan Pudu, between midnight and 1am on Dec 10, 2006. In mitigation, Khairul's counsel Mohd Radzlan Jalaludin told the court that the accused was only 21 at the time of the offence and was a father of two children.

He added that the accused also did not physically harm the victim. "He has been in remand since he was arrested and has spent three Hari Raya celebrations away from his family. Please give him a chance to repent and change into a better person, and please spare him the rotan," he pleaded.

Deputy public prosecutor Tan Sew Ping urged the court to take into account that the victim was a mute and at the time of the incident did not have any chance to run away. Fathiyah in her ruling said Khairul's evidence was a bare denial, was not consistent and could not be believed.

"The victim believed that the accused was going to help her get to where she was going, but instead he took advantage of the situation and raped her." She ordered that Khairul be placed under a rehabilitation programme throughout his stay in prison and be placed under police supervision for two years upon being released.

Radzlan said he would appeal against the sentence.