Lengthy jail, cane for duo
Locals who abducted, raped, hurt UMS student get up to 61 years, 25 strokes
•Mohd Sahrizal and Mohd Ariffin charged with abducting UMS student
•Sahrizal charged with raping, forcing student to perform oral sex in car
•Ariffin charged with raping student two times in car at different places
•Sahrizal and Ariffin charged with causing grievous hurt to the student
•Ariffin charged with stealing three Kancil cars, including two with Sahrizal
KOTA KINABALU:
Two local men who abducted, raped and caused grievous injuries to a Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) student, as well as forcing her to perform oral sex were yesterday sentenced to lengthy jail terms and up to 25 strokes of the cane plus hefty fines. Mohd Sahrizal b Suhaili 20, and Mohd Ariflin b Bidin 29, pleaded guilty to all the charges against them, of three Perodua Kancil cars. Sahrizal, from Kampung Pirasan, Kota Belud received 49 years and eight months’ jail, 20 strokes of the cane and RM 1,000 fine, in default, 19 months’ jail. As some of the jail terms run concurrently, he will only have to serve 28 years behind bars. Ariffin, from Kampung Tarap, Bongawan, was sentenced to a total of 61 years and 11 months’ jail, 25 strokes of the cane and RM16,000 fine, in default, 23 months’ jail, but he will only have to serve 32 years and three months. The two accused who were represented by Counsel Hamid Ismail appeared pensive during the proceedings which started at the Magistrate’s Court in the morning and continued in the Sessions Court during the afternoon. Sessions Court Judge Duncan Sikodol sentenced them to five years plus five strokes of cane for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to the 22-year-old UMS student. They committed the offence between April 15 and April 16 and 6.50pm and 5pm from the roundabout in Taman Kingfisher, Jalan Bangka-Bangka here to Kampung Rompon in Tambunan. The charge under Section 325 of the Penal Code carries a jail term up to seven years and a fine on conviction. Sahrizal and Ariffin were jailed another five -years and fined RM1,000, in default, five months’ jail for abducting the student with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine her. They abducted the woman at the Taman Kingfisher roundabout in Jalan Bangka-Bangka about 6. 50pm on April 15. The charge under Section 365 of the Penal Code provides a jail term up to seven years and a fine. The Court ordered the sentences to run concurrently. Sharizal was jailed 20 years plus 10 strokes of the cane for raping the woman and jailed 15 more years plus five strokes of cane for forcing the victim to perform oral sex on him. Both offences were committed between between 6. 50pm and 10pm on April 15 at a place along the old Kota Kinabalu-Tambunan Road. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently, but consecutively with the sentences for causing grievous hurt and kidnap. Ariffin was jailed 23 years and ordered to be given 10 strokes of the cane for each of the two rape charges. However, the sentences run concurrently, but consecutively with Ariffin’s sentences for the causing grievous hurt and kidnap. Ariffin raped the woman between 6.50pm and 10pm on April 15 at a place along the old Kota Kinabalu Tambunan Road. He raped the victim for the second time at another place along the road between 2am and 4am on April 16. The rape charges under Section 376 (2) of the Penal Code provides a jail term of between eight and 30 years and whipping of not less than 10 strokes. In mitigation, Hamid, who was a duty counsel for both accused, told the court that his clients had regretted of their actions. By pleading guilty, they had saved the court and prosecution’s time from a lengthy trial, he said. He said some of the injuries sustained by the victim were not caused by the two accused but the accident. Hamid said the second accused, during the entire period, had also been kind to the victim by giving her food and medicine. Asked by the court why they committed the offences, Sahrizal and Ariffin claimed that they were influenced by alcohol and syabu. Meanwhile, Senior Federal Counsel Suhaimi Ibrahim urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on both accused. He said it is true that by pleading guilty, the court and prosecution’s time had been saved but this cannot bring back the good time of the victim. She will be traumatized for the whole of her life. Even a maximum sentence meted out to the accused cannot bring back what she had; she was a virgin, Suhaimi said. “If the second accused was kind enough, why he committed the offences in the first place and why they did not send the victim to hospital as requested by the latter?” he asked. According to the facts of the case, about 6.50pm on April 15, the victim together with her friends disembarked from a van at a roundabout in Taman Kingfisher as they wanted to take a shortcut to a shop to buy things. At that time, a Perodua Kancil car driven by Ariffin approached the victim while the first accused, Sahrizal pulled and dragged the victim into the vehicle before speeding towards Kota Kinabalu town. The victim’s friends who saw the incident could not do anything and later made a call to the emergency line 999 and was redirected to Kota Kinabalu Police Station. The Police later received further information that the Kancil car which was used to kidnap the woman was bearing registration number SAA4558N and with this information, a manhunt was launched all around the west coast of the State. On the following day about 4am, April 16, they spotted the vehicle in Keningau area and a chase ensued between the patrol police vehicle and the vehicle used by the two men. During the chase, the Kancil car crashed and rolled down a slope at Kampung Rompon, Tambunan. When they approached the vehicle, the Police found the victim inside it in a traumatic state with grievous injuries. The Police later arrested Shahrizal in a farm after receiving a tip-off on April 16, while Ariffin was arrested at a roadblock near Keningau Golf Club on the following day. The victim was later sent to Keningau Hospital and examination on her found that the woman suffered injuries on her hands, right and left sides of her abdomen, large bruise bite marks and several other injuries on her body. There were also fresh tears on the victim’s hymen on 2’5’7’ o’clock. Further police investigation revealed the two persons had planned before committing the offences. It was further stated that in the car, the victim was kicked, bitten and punched when she tried to fight. Her hands were tied while she was brought to Keningau from Kota Kinabalu. While in the car, Sahrizal cut the victim’s clothes and undressed her before raping the woman. Sahrizal later forced the woman to perform oral sex on him while using his finger to poke the girl’s vagina. After that, Ariffin changed his seat with Sahrizal without stopping the vehicle and raped the woman twice on April 15 and 16. They also ignored the woman’s request to send her to a hospital after she was raped. The two accused were first brought to the Magistrate’s Court to answer two joint charges of stealing vehicles and a single charge of similar offence faced by Ariffin. Both pleaded guilty to the charges under Section 379A of the Penal Code, which carry a jail term of between one and seven years and a fine. They were jailed for 20 months and fined RM5,000, in default, four months’ jail each for stealing a blue Produa Kancil bearing number SAA795P and worth RM20,000, which belonged to Zainal b Tahir. The offence was committed between March 2 about 9pm and March 3 about 2.45am this year at a car park behind Rain Forest Cafe, Jalan Pantai here. Magistrate Marlina Ibrahim who presided over the case ordered the 20 months’ jail sentence to commence from yesterday. Sahrizal and Ariffin were sentenced to 36 months’ jail from the date of their arrest and fined RM5,000, in default, 10 months’ jail each for stealing another Perodua Kandil vehicle worth RM20,000. Marlina also ordered the two accused persons to be placed under police supervision for 12 months after serving the sentence. Sahrizal and Ariffin admitted to stealing the light green Perodua Kancil bearing number SAA8151B, which belonged to Florita @ Nurul Awatif bt Laji worth RM20,000 between 12.30am and 8.50am on Feb 6 this year at a car park, Taman Bukit Setia, Jalan Sepanggar in Menggatal. Ariffin was also jailed 15 months for stealing another Perodua Kancil bearing number SAA9577J worth RM25,000. He admitted to stealing the vehicle which belonged to Voo Tze Hiung at a car park in Block A, Taman Pun Warisan in Inanam between lam and 6.15am on Sept 27 last year. The court ordered Ariffin’s 15 months’ jail sentence to run consecutively with his two previous sentences of the earlier two charges. Suhaimi was assisted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharuddin, Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Hasmizulizam b Hamidon and APP Effizah Ernie Idris.
