Mahkamah Rayuan menganggap kes rogol bawah umur sebagai kesalahan yang tidak serius...

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim hari ini menyalahkan Mahkamah Rayuan kerana membiarkan seorang lagi perogol remaja bawah umur bebas dari penjara, dengan berkata mahakamah telah melepaskan tanggungjawab untuk melindungi kanak-kanak.

Bekas menteri ‘de facto’ undang-undang itu merujuk kepada dua kes mahkamah membebaskan dua orang lelaki yang didapati bersalah mengadakan hubungan seks dengan kanak-kanak bawah umur dari dihukum mandatori lima tahun penjara minimum serta sebatan dibawah seksyen 376(2) Kanun Keseksaan.

“Saya menyalahkan Mahkamah Rayuan dalam keadaan sebegini di negara ini, dengan menganggap kes rogol bawah umur sebagai kesalahan yang tidak serius,” kata Zaid dalam kenyataannya yang dihantar kepada The Malaysian Insider hari ini.

Isu tersebut mencetuskan kemarahan orang ramai selepas Mahkamah Sesyen membebaskan Chuah Guan Jiu, 22 tahun dengan ikat jamin RM25,000 selama tiga tahun walaupun didapati bersalah merogol kanak-kanak bawah umur di Pulau Pinang tahun lalu.

“Hakim, terutamanya di Mahkamah Tinggi mempunyai kuasa untuk membuat keputusan berdasarkan budi bicara.

“Sesetengah lagi berdasarkan undang-undang yang sedia ada,” katanya dengan menambah bahawa hakim mempunyai kuasa untuk membebaskan pesalah pertama berdasarkan umur, kelakuan, kesihatan, keadaan mental dan sebagainya.

Undang-undang Malaysia menetapkan bahawa seks di bawah umur 16 tahun dikategorikan kes rogol bawah umur.

“Dengan keputusan sedemikian, itu adalah kesalahan yang serius.

“Kanak-kanak perempuan kini sudah tidak mempunyai perlindungan di mahkamah,” kata Zaid.

Pengasas kepada Zaid Ibrahim & Co, firma undang-undang swasta terbesar negara, memberi amaran bahawa keputusan sedemikian akan menyebabkan ramai lagi yang “tidak bertanggungjawab” untuk melakukan jenayah sedemikian.

“Saya merasakan adalah penting untuk Mahkamah Rayuan menimbang semula keputusan ini,” katanya lagi, dengan menambah bahawa ini adalah ujian kepada kerajan untuk melindungi kanak-kanak dan wanita.

Kedua pesalah, pemain bowling negara Noor Afizal Azizan mestilah dikelaskan sebagai pedofil, menurut standard kesihatan antarbangsa dan psikatri.

Keputusan mahkamah hari ini telah membebaskan penjenayah seks yang mungkin akan mengulangi jenayah mereka.

Badan dunia mengenai penklasifikasian penyakit (ICD) mengatakan pedofil merupakan “seks kanak-kanak, sama ada lelaki, perempuan atau keduanya, dari sebelum akil baligh atau di peringkat awal selepas akil baligh.”

Menurut Statistik dan Diagnosis untuk Penyakit Mental (DSM) yang digunakan oleh pakar professional kesihatan mental seluruh dunia, pedofil adalah mereka yang tertarik dengan hubungan seks antara kanak-kanak berusia 13 tahun atau lebih muda, dan pelaku mestilah berusia 16 tahun ke atas dengan pasangannya sekurang-kurangnya lima tahun lebih muda.

 Noor Afizal berusia 19 tahun apabila dia melakukan kesalahan merogol gadis berusia 13 tahun, enam tahun lebih muda.

 

Dalam kes Chuah(kanan), beliau berusia 21 tahun apabila melakukan kesalahan, sementara mangsanya berusia 12 tahun — beza sembilan tahun.

Perbezaan usia antara perogol dan mangsa dalam kes ini, merujuk kepada ICD dan DSM boleh dikategorikan sebagai pedofil.

Hukuman penjara yang lebih panjang seharusnya diberikan kepada pemain bowling Noor Afizal merogol kanak-kanak bawah umur berusia 13 tahun apabila dia berusia 19 tahun sekiranya beliau menggunakan kekerasan atau keganasan, kata mahkamah rayuan awal minggu ini dalam penghakiman bertulis mengapa mahkamah memutuskan untuk hanya mengenakan ikat jamin selama lima tahun.

Mahkamah bagaimanapun berkata, keputusan ini tidak seharusnya menjadi rujukan apabila berlakunya kes rogol bawah umur dan seharusnya dihakimi dengan keputusan sendiri.

Presiden mahkamah rayuan, Tan Sri Raus Sharif berkata dalam penghakimannya, Noor Afizal, yang kini berusia 21 tahun adalah seorang “lelaki yang menyesali apa yang dia telah lakukan dengan mengaku kesalahannya.”

Raus, bersama Hakim K.N. Segara dan Azhar Ma’ah, telah memutuskan keputusan tersebut.

Noor Afizal(kanan) telah dibebaskan dengan ikat jamin RM25,000 berbanding hukuman penjara selepas beliau mengaku bersalah atas melakukan rogol bawah umur, menyebabkan kemarahan orang ramai terhadap mahkamah, serta menimbulkan persoalan terhadap Kanun Keseksaan dan undang-undang jenayah, terutamanya selepas perogol kanak-kanak kedua, Chuah, dibebaskan hari ini.

“Kami turut memutuskan bahawa pelakuan seks ini adalah kehendak bersama dan dia seorang yang tidak habis sekolah,” kata hakim Sitarun Nisa Abdul Aziz, mengikut laporan dari The Star terhadap Chuah, yang berusia 22 tahun, seorang juruelektrik, diikatjamin sebanyak RM25,000 selama tiga tahun.

Kemarahan orang awam semakin memuncak apabila penghakiman mahkamah rayuan hari ini berubah dari keputusan mahkamah tinggi daripada keputusan hukuman penjara terhadap pemain bowling tersebut kepada ikat jamin lima tahun — kerana masa depan pemain bowling tersebut sebagai tiket untuk tidak ke penjara.

Tetapi mahkamah rayuan memutuskan dalam penghakiman bertulis untuk melepaskan pemain bowling itu dengan ikat jamin, tidak bermakna melibatkan kes untuk sama untuk akan datang.

“Jika perayu (Noor Afizal) lebih tua, atau dia menggunakan kekerasan, paksaan atau keganasan ke atas mangsa, atau menggunakan penipuan, serta tidak bekerjasama dengan polis, dan tidak menunjukkan kekesalan di atas kesalahannya, atau tidak ada jaminan untuk dia tidak melakukan kesalahan yang sama, kami tidak teragak-agak untuk menjatuhkan hukuman, sepertimana kes yang sebelumnya,” kata Raus.

Di mahkamah sesyen Melaka, hakim telah mengarahkan Noor Afizal diikatjamin sebanyak RM25,000 selama lima tahun selepas beliau mengaku bersalah merogol kanak-kanak tersebut di sebuah hotel di Ayer Keroh, Melaka pada 5 Julai 2010.

Bagaimanapun, pendakwa telah merayu kepada mahkamah tinggi pada 20 September tahun lalu untuk penjara mandatori minimum lima tahun, dibawah kesalahan merogol dalam Kanun Keseksaan.

Menurut kes tersebut berdasarkan penghakiman bertulis mahkamah rayuan hari ini, Noor Afizal telah menempah hotel di Melaka pada 5 Julai, 2010 bersama gadis yang pada ketika itu berusia 13 tahun empat bulan.

Keduanya berkata bahawa seks itu adalah seks sukarela. Keesokan paginya, Noor Afizal menghantar gadis itu ke rumah.

Gadis tersebut tidak bercakap apa-apa, dan insiden itu hanya diketahui bila ayahnya membaca diarinya.

Raus juga berpendapatan bahawa ikat jamin Noor Afizal ini adalah adil kerana dia mempunyai rekod sebagai seorang perogol.- malaysian insider

Appeals Court to blame for child rapists escaping jail...

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim blamed today the Court of Appeal for starting a legal trend that could see more convicted child rapists avoiding jail, saying it had abdicated its responsibility to protect children.

 

The former de facto law minister was weighing in on two recent court rulings in which judges had agreed to let go two young men who were found guilty of raping barely pubescent girls instead of sentencing them to the mandatory five years’ imprisonment, minimum, and whipping under section 376(2) of the Penal Code.

“I blame the Court of Appeal for this situation in our country, that having sex with an underage girl is not a serious offence,” Zaid told The Malaysian Insider in an emailed response today to public furore after the Sessions Court ruled to release 22-year-old Chuah Guan Jiu(right) on a three-year, RM25,000 good behaviour bond despite convicting him of raping his then 12-year-old girlfriend in Penang last year.

“Judges, especially at the superior court level, have to use their common sense and legal reasoning with care. Other judges tend to follow their reasoning,” he added, in reference to a judge’s discretionary power to release first-time offenders on probation of good conduct under certain circumstances relating to the perpetrator’s age, character, antecedents, health, mental condition or any other justifiable circumstances.

Malaysian law prescribes the age of sexual consent for girls to be 16 years and above.

“By saying it does not require a custodial sentence is a serious mistake.

“Young girls no longer have the protection of the courts,” Zaid said.

The founder of Zaid Ibrahim & Co, the country’s largest private law firm, warned that such rulings would tempt the “unscrupulous” to take advantage of the situation to perpetrate more crimes.

“I urgently call for the revision of the decision of the Court of Appeal,” he said, adding that it was also a test of the government’s commitment to protect the weak, the defenceless and the young.

Both national bowler Noor Afizal Azizan(above) and Chuah may be classified as paedophiles, according to international medical standards and psychiatrists here, suggesting the courts may have freed sexual predators who might repeat their crime.

The World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD) categorises paedophilia as “a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of pre-pubertal or early pubertal age.”

And according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) used by mental health professionals globally, paedophilia is the sexual attraction to pubescent or pre-pubescents aged 13 or younger, and the subject must be 16 or older with the child at least five years younger.

Noor Afizal was 19 when he committed the offence while the girl he raped was 13, or six years his junior.

In the case of Chuah, he was 21 at the time of the offence, while his victim was 12 ― a nine-year gap between the two.

The age difference between perpetrator and victim in both cases falls within both the ICD and DSM criteria for paedophilia.

A lengthy jail sentence would have been imposed on national bowler Noor Afizal for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl when he was 19 if he had been older or had used force, coercion or violence, the Court of Appeal said earlier this week in a written judgment explaining why it had controversially substituted imprisonment with a good behaviour bond for five years.

The court said, however, that its decision should not be considered a precedent for all future cases involving statutory rape and should be judged on its own merits.

Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Raus Sharif said in the judgment that Noor Afizal, who is now 21, was a “young boy who was extremely remorseful for what he had done and had thrown himself to the mercy of the court by pleading guilty to the charge.”

Raus, who sat with Justices K.N. Segara and Azhar Ma’ah, wrote the grounds of judgment.

Noor Afizal was let off with a RM25,000 bond instead of being jailed after he pleaded guilty to statutory rape, sparking a public firestorm over the court’s message on sex with minors even as it raised questions about the Penal Code and other criminal laws — especially after a second child rapist, Chuah, escaped incarceration today.

“We also considered the fact that the sexual act was consensual and that he is a school dropout,” judge Sitarun Nisa Abdul Aziz was quoted as saying by The Star in binding over 22-year-old Chuah, an electrician, for three years on a RM25,000 bond.

Incensed Malaysians have been venting their outrage against the judiciary after the Court of Appeal reversed earlier this month a High Court decision to jail the bowling ace for five years — suggesting that fame and a bright future are enough to ensure a convicted offender gets a ticket away from jail.

But the Court of Appeal pointed out in its written judgment that its decision to let the bowler off with a bond did not have blanket application, nor applied to all cases involving young offenders committing a similar offence.

“If the appellant (Noor Afizal) had been older or if he had used force, coercion or violence on the victim, or if he had tricked the victim... or he had not co-operated with the police and he had not shown any remorse to his act or there is no guarantee that he will not be committing the same offence in future, we would not have any hesitation, as we have done in many other cases of similar nature, to impose a lengthy custodial sentence,” said Raus.

In the Malacca Sessions Court, the judge had imposed a RM25,000 bond with good behaviour for five years on Noor Afizal after he pleaded guilty to raping the girl at a hotel in Ayer Keroh, Malacca on July 5, 2010.

However, the public prosecutor had appealed to the High Court on September 20 last year and obtained a five-year custodial sentence, the mandatory minimum for rape under the Penal Code.

According to the facts of the case, which were laid down in the written judgment of the Court of Appeal today, Noor Afizal had checked into a hotel in Malacca on July 5, 2010 together with the girl who was then 13 years and four months old.

The two had what was described as consensual sex. The next morning Noor Afizal sent the girl home.

The girl did not complain to anyone and the incident only came to light when her father read her diary.

Raus also pointed out that in fact, Noor Afizal’s bond was a suspended jail sentence and that he would always have a criminal record for rape.- malaysian insider



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