Lewd act: Teacher can settle

A TEACHER was granted permission by the High Court to compound an alleged offence of insulting the modesty of a 15-year-old girl.

The 39-year-old allegedly inserted his hand in the front of his shorts in February last year in the presence of the teenager at the staircase of a block of flats.

Overriding the decision of the district court not to allow the offence to be settled between the two parties, Justice Lee Seiu Kin, who heard the appeal on Friday, observed that the act, although lewd, was 'not particularly serious'.

'He did not touch her. He did not expose himself,' the judge said.

Also noting that the man was not the girl's teacher as believed earlier, Justice Lee returned the matter to the district court for it to be compounded.

As the girl was a minor at the time of the alleged offence, no detail can be published that could lead to her identity.

Source: ST

Teen raped by motorist who knocked her down

A 14-YEAR-OLD girl cycling home after school in Changkat Jong was knocked down by a motorist and raped by the man, reported Malaysia Nanban.

It said the girl was knocked down at about 6pm on Monday and she was raped in an oil palm plantation.

The girl later hitched a ride home and informed her parents, who took her to lodge a police report.

Source: The Star

Teen confronts rapist father

SINGAPORE - Mid-way through her testimony, the prosecutor asked the 17-year-old rape victim to look into her father's eyes and repeat her allegations against him.

Sobbing, she did just that.

'Yes, he raped me,' she told the High Court of her 34-year-old father, an odd job worker accused of sexually abusing her for over 10 years.

She told the High Court she sacrificed her happiness as she was aware that telling anyone about the sexual abuse she suffered from her father would tear up the family.

Her only happy moments were when she and her younger siblings went out shopping with their parents. 'Only then could I feel the warmth of family life but once at home I would have second thoughts because of what was happening to me,' she said between sobs.

Earlier, the secondary school student told the court how the sexual abuse started in 1999 when she was only six years old. He made her perform oral sex on him.

A year later, he raped her twice in the living room of their rented flat. She had not even reached puberty then.

***

Dad preyed on her at night

The teenager said her father preyed on her mostly at night when the mother was working the night shift as a clinic assistant. He would enter the room where the three children were sleeping in and asked her to follow him into the living room where he raped her.

The sexual abuse came to light in April last year when the girl went back to the flat to collect some of her belongings and he is believed to have tried to unbutton her school uniform in an attempt to have sex with her. He did not succeed and later, she told her mother what happened at the flat and over the years.

The father, who has no lawyer, said he did not wish to cross-examine his daughter.

Source: ST

Teen girls’ secret night out ends in rape

KUALA LUMPUR: Two teenage girls’ secret night out in town turned into a nightmare when they were raped by two men who they thought were friends.

Both girls, aged 15 years, snuck out of their houses in Gombak at about 1am on Saturday to meet up with the two men in Puchong, whom they had met through a social networking website.

Ampang Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Abdul Jalil Hassan said the girls then joined the men, in their 30s, for a night out in clubs and other popular hangouts.

“However, things turned ugly when the men then brought the girls to a rented house in Pandan Indah, Ampang, and raped them,” he told reporters here yesterday.

The men later dropped the girls off at Shah Alam.

“The girls subsequently lodged a report at a nearby police station,” he said, adding that a man, aged 36, had been arrested on Tuesday.

“The girls managed to identify him from a line-up and he has been put under remand until Aug 30,” he said.

Source: The Star

Teacher denies raping S'pore girl

KOTA KINABALU - A 31-YEAR-OLD former school teacher was charged on Monday with committing five sexual offences, including sodomy, against an 11-year-old Singaorean girl attending a private school in Sabah.

Adrian Simon, 31, faces the first charge of raping the girl at a school science laboratory store between 2.10 pm and 3.30pm on Feb 10 to 20.

In the second and third charges, he was accused of raping the girl at the same place at 10.25am on March 26, and between 2pm and 3.30pm on April 1 to 7. Each charge provides for a jail term of between five and 30 years and whipping upon conviction.

In the fourth charge, Adrian allegedly forced the girl to perform oral sex on him between 2.10pm and 3.30pm on Feb 10 to 20 at the same place and the fifth was for sodomising the girl at the store without the girl's consent between 2pm and 3.30pm from February to April.

Adrian faces a jail term of between five and 20 years and whipping if found guilty for the fourth and fifth charges.

After Adrian claimed trial to the charges, the prosecuting officer told the court that the prosecution would be calling 15 witnesses to testify. The case will be mentioned on Aug 26. Adrian is out on RM8,000 bail.

Source: THE STAR

Rebels gang-raped 200 women

KINSHASA (Congo) - REBELS in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo gang-raped almost 200 women during a four-day seizure of a town, aid groups said.

Rwandan Hutu FDLR insurgents and Mai Mai militia haunt eastern Congo, terrorising civilians and raping thousands of women each year, despite a UN-backed campaign by the Congolese army aimed at neutralising the armed gangs. On July 30, FLDR and Mai Mai groups attacked the town of Luvungi in North Kivu province, which they then controlled until until Aug 3.

'During the attack (the rebels) looted (the) population's houses and raped several women in Luvungi and surrounding areas,' United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson Stefania Trassari said on Monday.

'International Medical Corps (IMC) reported that FDLR systematically raped the population during its four-day stay in Luvungi and surrounding areas. A total of 179 cases of sexual violence were reported,' Trassari said, adding all of the cases were of rape against women.

Humanitarian group the IMC said it was treating the victims. 'Nearly all reported rapes were described as having been perpetrated by two-to-six armed men, often taking place in front of the women's children and husbands,' it said in a statement.

The United Nations has withdrawn 1,700 peacekeepers in recent months in response to calls from Congo's government to end the mission next year, but still supports operations against several armed groups in the east. -- REUTERS

source: Straitstimeonline

Schoolmate, 16, sodomises boy, 9, during recess

KAJANG, MALAYSIA: Many would think that schools are the safest place for a child but this was proven wrong when a 9-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised repeatedly by his 16-year-old schoolmate in an empty classroom for four days since Aug 10.

The incident happened during the primary school's recess periods in a classroom of the private school here.

The victim is a primary pupil while the suspect is a secondary student of the same school.

The victim's father lodged a police report on Thursday, nine days after the incident, and the suspect was picked up for questioning the same day.

Kajang police chief Assistant Commissioner Shakaruddin Che Mood, who confirmed the arrest, said the victim had been sent for a medical check-up and investigations into the case was ongoing.

Meanwhile, the father of the victim claimed that his son was traumatised by the incident and has since stopped going to school.

He said he suspected something was wrong when he noticed the son was withdrawn and was acting strange for a few days before the son admitted to the abuse on Tuesday.

The father then confronted the school authorities and claimed that the suspect had also confessed to sodomising the boy.

He said the suspect admitted to picking on the boy as he could be "easily bullied".

He added that he was considering taking legal action against the school for negligence.

Source: asiaone.com

M'sia police say most baby-dumping cases involve Malays

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 — Police say a majority of baby-dumping cases involve Malays which observers say is the result of the stigma of illegitimate children and the community being ill-equipped to deal with unwanted pregnancies.

While there is no actual racial breakdown available because it is often difficult to determine the race of the babies, police say anecdotal evidence and prosecutions show the majority involve Malays.

Police say 13 out of 65 cases involving the dumping of newborns have resulted in prosecutions. All of the accused were Malays.

A total of 67 cases were recorded in 2005, 83 cases in 2006, 76 in 2007, 102 in 2008 and 79 in 2009.

ACP Hamidah Yunus, deputy director of the CID’s sexual, abuse and children’s investigations division in Bukit Aman, said the actual racial composition could not be given as most cases were unsolved due to a lack of evidence.

“All the 13 who have been charged (this year) are Malays... the ones we cannot solve we do not know, most of the babies found look Malay, but they are actually Indonesians, Vietnamese and Nepalese... we do not know until we figure out who threw these babies away,” Hamidah told The Malaysian Insider.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Welfare Department told The Malaysian Insider that it was hard to determine the identity or race of the babies who were dumped.

“We cannot really determine the race of the babies who have been abandoned. We can differentiate through their skin colour and facial features. But if a baby is already dead when we find them, it is difficult to determine,” said the spokesman.

Cases of babies being abandoned have increased from 65 cases in 2005 to 79 cases last year. On average, eight abandoned babies were found each month this year.

Hamidah blamed the lackadaisical attitude of the parents for abandoning their babies. Some are too young to get married, so they end up dumping their babies, she said.

“Family plays an important role here. You cannot just depend on the government to tackle this issue,” Hamidah said.

Sisters in Islam spokeswoman Yasmin Masidi said teenagers who end up getting pregnant are usually ostracised by society, by fears that they will be punished by the religious authorities.

“So when this happens, they leave their babies,” said Yasmin, adding that the lack of shelters for pregnant teens contributed to the rise in cases of baby dumping.

She added that unprotected sex and incest added to the number of cases although there was no statistical evidence.

Yasmin said that since most of the offenders in baby-dumping cases were teenagers, there was a need for sex education to be introduced in school.

“All this while the pressure has always been on the girls to have sex and they are blamed when babies are abandoned.

“Teenage boys should also be taught to take responsibility for their actions,” said Yasmin.

Malaysian Muslim Lawyers’ Association president Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar said the reason why the majority of baby-dumping cases involved Malays was because there was no control on curbing immoral activities.

“They are doing this due to a lack of religious guidance and I consider this a curse from Allah,” said Zainul.

Malaysian Syarie Lawyers’ Association deputy president Musa Awang claimed that Malays often took the short cut by abandoning their babies for fear of being shunned by society.

“There is a possibility that other races do not view illegitimate children as an issue.

“Society will often judge harshly in matters like this,” said Musa.

Jemmah Islah Malaysia (JIM) president Zaid Kamaruddin told The Malaysian Insider that he was shocked by the statistics produced by the police this year.

“What can be understood is that Malays do not practice safe sex, and do not handle the situation well. When they do not handle it well, it affects the rise in such cases,” said Zaid.

Zaid claimed that Malays were often caught in a dilemma of “not knowing what to do” once they were pregnant with child.

“Yes, it is the responsibility of society to tackle this issue but it still boils down to the individual. They need to take care of themselves,” said Zaid.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

Woman charged with performing sexual acts on girl

A 21-year-old woman has been charged with two counts of performing a sexual act on a girl who was then about 13 years old in November 2008.

It is believed that the pair was in a relationship at the time. The student allegedly committed the act in a flat.

It is believed the woman performed the same act on the girl at Siloso Beach Resort in Sentosa on Feb 1 last year.

A pre-trial conference will be held on Sept 13.

Those convicted of the crime can be jailed up to two years, fined a maximum of $5,000or both. Repeat offenders can be jailed up to four years, fined a maximum of $10,000 or both.

Source: Today Online

'Porn behind baby dumping'

KUALA LUMPUR - WIDESPREAD access to pornography and weakened family ties have led to an increase in baby dumping in the past five years, according to Federal CID director Comm Datuk Seri Bakri Zinin.

'Youth today can easily have access to such material online, even through their mobile phones.'Parents also need to guide and educate their children on sexuality,' he said yesterday at Bukit Aman.

Commissioner Bakri also urged the public to work closely with the police in identifying such cases. He said sometimes neighbours or people in the community knew about such pregnancies but were not forthcoming.

He said police records showed 65 babies were dumped or abandoned up to August - bringing the total number of babies dumped or abandoned since 2005 to 472.

Of the total dumped or abandoned, more than half or 258 were found dead. 'We do not take this lightly and will investigate such cases thoroughly. For the record we have so far arrested 21 people and have charged six of them resulting in two of them being convicted.

'We investigate baby dumping cases under section 302 of the Penal Code for murder or Section 307 for attempted murder. But, the final decision rests with the Attorney-General Chambers,' he added.

Source: THE STAR/ANN

Cleaner charged with performing sexual acts on intellectually disabled man

SINGAPORE: A 69-year-old cleaner has been charged with two counts of performing a sexual act on an intellectually disabled man.

Said Haji A Rahman allegedly performed the acts of gross indecency on the 20-year-old man in a flat at Block 215, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1.

Said told a district court that he wants to plead guilty to the offences.

He also said that he plans to hire a lawyer.

The case will be mentioned again next Monday.

If convicted, Said could be jailed up to two years.

Source: Channel News Asia

Sex pest’ nabbed on cruiseship

A Google search led US police to arrest a championship gymnast and ‘most wanted’ alleged sexual offender onboard a Carnival cruiseship last week.

A Facebook profile finally caught up with Bulgarian Kaloyan Kaloyanov who was nabbed onboard the 2,974-berth Carnival Splendor (built 2008) off Mexico, the Oakland Tribune reported.

Carnival Splendor.
The 36-year-old had been wanted over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl in the US 10 years ago. He had been on the ‘most wanted’ list of the Fremont Police Department for eight years.

Police returned to the cold case recently when the former gymnastics instructor’s name was put into internet search engine Google. A profile belonging to him popped up on social networking site Facebook which led authorities to Carnival, onboard whose ships he has been working for some time.

Although not directly employed by Carnival, Kaloyanov had been working onboard the Panama-flagged Carnival Splendor as a hair salon manager and previously as a fitness instructor.

He was held onboard the ship off Mexico for six days by onboard security until the vessel docked at Long Beach, California on Sunday where he was turned over to US authorities.

Kaloyanov is alleged to have sexually assaulted a former gymnastics student in 2000 who was then aged just 15. He is said to have admitted the assaults when originally questioned in 2002 but fled the country. He had previously competed in a number of aerobics gymnastics world championships.

Source: Tradewinds

Girl's SMS fling ends in rape

A MALAYSIAN primary school girl waited for four months before meeting a man with whom she had fallen in love after a handphone affair - and ended up being raped by three men instead.

The 12-year-old from Kuala Terengganu, who got to know her 22-year-old 'lover' via SMS, was coaxed into meeting him last Monday.

Kuala Terengganu OCPD Asst Comm Zamri Shamsuddin said the victim waited for her 'lover' in front of a clinic in Kubang Jela but another man, who claimed to be representing him, turned up at around 4pm.

The suspect then brought the victim to a rented house at Jalan Sultan Mahmud where he and two other men raped her.

The victim lodged a police report at 9.30pm on Tuesday and the three suspects have been detained and remanded for a week to assist investigations.

Source: THE STAR/ANN

Unemployed man gets 15 years, whipping for raping mute woman

KUALA LUMPUR: An unemployed man, Mohd Khairul Nizam Mohamad Shafiai, was jailed 15 years and ordered to be whipped five times by the Sessions Court here Friday for raping a mute woman four years ago.

Sessions Court judge Fathiyah Idris ruled that the accused's defence was mere denial. Mohd Khairul had claimed trial to raping the woman in a hotel room on Dec 10, 2006.

In sentencing,Judge Fathiyah said the court considered that the accused took advantage of a special person who had asked him for directions.

The judge ordered Mohd Khairul to go through the rehabilitation programme conducted by prison authorities while serving his jail term.

She also ordered him to be monitored by the police for two years after his release.

Source: The Star

Driver charged with rapes

PETALING JAYA - IT TOOK seven hours and three courtrooms here for school van driver V. Tiagarajan to be charged with two rape offences and for inciting a child to perform an act of gross indecency on Thursday.

At the end of the day, the 51-year-old was remanded after he failed to obtain bail in one of the cases -- the alleged rape of a nine-year-old girl who lived with him, reported The New Straits Times.

Tiagarajan pleaded guilty to raping the girl in a van in Jalan Othman on July 26, when the charge was read to him in Malay.

But when the charge was read to him in Tamil, he appeared not to understand, said the NST. Sessions Court judge Rozina Ayob then adjourned the proceedings briefly.

When court resumed, Tiagarajan's family had appointed him a counsel, and this time, when the charge was read to him for a third time in Tamil, he pleaded not guilty.

Deputy public prosecutor Shah Rizal Abdul Manan said the prosecution did not want bail to be offered as the victim and the man lived in the same neighbourhood.

Defence counsel Lim Sha Lee said she could produce two bailors for Tiagarajan -- his wife and his sister. The judge then allowed bail of RM15,000 in two sureties and imposed an additional condition for the accused to report to the nearest police station once a month and for him not to disturb the victim, her family, or any of the witnesses in the case.

The accused was also not allowed to leave the country until the case was over.

Tiagarajan was then taken to another Sessions Court where he claimed trial to a charge of raping another nine-year-old girl.He is alleged to have committed the offence at his house last year.

Tiagarajan's wife, who was in court, was asked by the judge to come forward. The woman, who introduced herself to the court as Ratnama, said the alleged victim in this case was her niece.

She said she had been taking care of the girl since her sister (the niece's mother) died when the girl was six years old. The judge, after a brief recess, denied Tiagarajan bail until he could show that he was staying at another location with proof of a permanent address.

Tiagarajan was then taken to the magistrate's court here where he pleaded not guilty to inciting a nine-year-old child to an act of gross indecency. The victim in this case is the same girl named in the second rape charge.He is alleged to have committed this offence at his house last year.

The courts fixed Sept 7 for mention of all three cases.

If found guilty of rape, Tiagarajan faces a jail term of five to 30 years. For the charge of inciting a child to an act of gross indecency, he faces a maximum jail sentence of five years and may be caned.

Source:New Straits Times

Teen was grandpa's sex slave

KUALA LUMPUR - A 13-YEAR-OLD teenager in Betong, Sarawak was forced to be her step-grandfather's sex slave for the past five years, Malaysia's Berita Harian has reported.

The rape went unreported because the girl feared that the man would refuse to pay her school fees.

The teenager, who said the sexual abuse started when she was eight years old, could not depend on her grandmother as the woman would always side with her husband.

Betong OCPD Deputy Supt Mohd Bukhori Saffai was reported as saying that the incident was only brought to light on July 30 when the girl's mother who fetched her from a hostel was puzzled why she didn't want to be sent back to the step-grandfather's house in Skuyat Lama for the school holidays.

The victim subsequently told her mother about the rape and she lodged a report at the Betong police station.

Police are now trying to locate a local man in his 40s who works as a security guard at a logging camp in Nanga Ajau. Both the man and his wife have since disappeared

Source: The Straitstime Online

Japan child porn cases surge

TOKYO - JAPANESE police investigated almost 600 child porn cases in the first half of the year - a new record and 60 per cent more than in the same period last year, a government survey said on Thursday.

The surge in part reflects stepped-up efforts by police to stop the sexual exploitation of minors and a crackdown on Internet pornography depicting children, a senior agency official said, according to Jiji Press.

The cases involved 295 child victims, the National Policy Agency said - almost double the number from last year and the highest since the agency started keeping such data a decade ago.

Japan is considered a major global source of child pornography photographs and videos, in part because while the production and distribution of such pornography is illegal in the country, its possession is not.

Victims' support groups point out that in many cases the children's faces are exposed, condemning them to a life of shame and trauma as their images live on and are widely distributed on the Internet.

The survey found that the Internet was the medium for spreading the child porn in 55 per cent of cases. In July, Japan pledged a three-year strategy to eradicate child pornography - including through promotion of online filtering software and cooperation with internet service providers to block or delete illicit images.

Source: AFP

Politician prostitutes wife to pay loans

A failed political candidate from West Sulawesi, Indonesia, has appeared in court charged with allegedly forcing his wife into prostitution to help pay off campaign debts.

Haerul Asri, 38, made an unsuccessful attempt in 2009 to win election to the West Sulawesi Legislative Council representing Polewali Mandar district in 2009.

The case opened in the Polman District Court on Tuesday, Metro TV reported.

He is charged with forcing his wife, Nad, to have sex with his friends for between Rp 300,000 (RM106) and Rp 500,000 (RM177) and is facing up to 15 years in jail.

Haerul told the court that he needed to pay outstanding debts from his political campaign.

Speaking to a local newspaper, Nad said she ran away from her husband in April and moved in with her family in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

She alleged that Haerul beat her every time she refused his order to have sex with "clients."

Haerul and Nad had been married for 14 years and have two children.

The family owns a motorcycle showroom and business had been good until Haerul signed up to be a legislative candidate.

"His business suffered from the political campaign fund and he started to borrow money from people. When he lost the election, debt collectors came knocking on our door every day," Nad said.

The forced prostitution started early this year.

"He would beat me and threaten to kill me if I said I didn’t want to do it. Until I finally decided to run away and go home to Samarinda," she said.

Nad and her family reported Haerul to Polewali Mandar Police in April.

He was arrested and named a suspect for domestic violence and human trafficking, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail.
Source: The Daily Chilli

Boss jailed for molesting maid

A MAN who molested his domestic worker was jailed for 10 months and ordered to be given three strokes of the cane on Monday.

Gerry Chan Cheow Kwang, 45, admitted to forcibly making the 25-year-old Indonesian maid masturbate him, touching her private parts and sucking her breasts at his condominium unit in Woodlands on Aug 1, 2008.

The court heard that Chan, a project manager, had asked the maid to massage him that morning. While she was massaging him, he pulled her towards him, lifted her T-shirt and brassiere, exposing her breasts.

He then squeezed and sucked her breasts. When he tried to remove her shorts, she struggled and he molested her.

He threatened the victim that she would die if she did not comply with his demands. The victim reported to the police three days later.

Chan, married with three children, could have been jailed for up to three years, fined or caned or received any combined punishment. A second charge was considered during his sentencing.

Source: The Straits Times

Surge in sex crimes

KUALA LUMPUR - SEXUAL crimes are on the rise in the country, with almost half the victims being children and teenage girls below 16 years old.

According to head of the police sexual crimes unit Deputy Superintendent Zaiton Che Lah, sex offences have risen consistently over the last five years. 'Rape is happening everywhere, anytime and anyone can be a victim,' Deputy Superintendent Zaiton told Sunday Star. 'We are already on alert that rape cases have been rising since 2005. A worrying trend, however, is the rise of rape against the young, which we estimate to be around 50% of the total number of rape cases each year.'

Police statistics released by the Sexual Crimes and Children Investigation Division reveal an alarming trend - almost 80 per cent of those committing sexual crimes against minors are close or known by the victims, and they include fatherly figures, neighbours and relatives. Earlier this week, news of the rape of a 10-year-old girl by her schoolvan driver shocked the nation. Prior to that, it was reported that five schoolgirls aged between 12 and 14 were stalked and lured with free meals and money before being raped. These shocking incidents are only the tip of the iceberg, according to the police.

Last year, a total of 2,048 rape cases involving girls aged 16 and below were recorded, compared to 925 cases in 2005. While a big percentage of the cases were statutory rape, Deputy Superintendent Zaiton pointed out that many young girls were coerced into sex or preyed on by sexual offenders. (Under the Penal Code, sex with a girl aged under 16 is an offence classified as statutory rape.)

'Kids today get involved in relationships earlier, so they are more vulnerable. Many are easily duped and are not equipped to defend themselves in risky situations,' she added. While a growing number of perpetrators are boyfriends who either coerce the girls to have sex or force themselves on them, there is an alarming number of young girls who are raped by male acquaintances they had just met.

'They meet a guy for the first time and willingly follow him home. This is the risk because the boy is essentially a stranger and he can rape or sexually violate the girl when they are alone. 'Or worse, he might have his friends waiting, and they will gang-rape her.'She added that cases like these are hard for the police to solve as most of the time the girls did not even know the boy's full name

Source: StraitsTime Online