Cops gets 12 years for sexual offences

Three policemen were sent to jail for 12 years and ordered to be given two strokes of the rotan each, after they lost their final appeal to set aside their convictions for raping an Indonesian woman and forcing her to perform oral sex on them.

Constable Remmy Anak Dana, 29, and Syahiran Romli, 25, and Corporal Nik Sin Mat Lazim, 37, committed the two offences on the (then) 25-year-old woman at Room 4, Perai Police Barracks in Butterworth, Penang between 6.40am and 7.30am on Nov 9, 2012.

The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the trio's appeal after ruling that their convictions were safe.

Justice Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who chaired the three-man panel held that judicial commissioner Azmi Ariffin did not err in his findings on the facts and law in the case as to warrant the appellate court's intervention.

On May 12, last year, the Butterworth Sessions Court found the cops guilty of the two charges and sentenced each of them to 12 years jail and one stroke of the rotan for each offence, to be served concurrently.

The policemen appealed against the judgement and on Dec 2 last year, the Penang high court upheld the convictions and maintained the sentence of 12 years and one stroke of the cane for the rape offence but reduced the sentence for the second offence to eight years and one stroke of the cane.

The trio were ordered to serve their sentences concurrently. However, they were granted a stay of the sentence pending their appeal at the Court of Appeal, and released on bail of RM30,000 each.

Based on the facts of the case, the woman and her male companion, a taxi driver, were heading home from a pub when they were stopped by police who inspected the woman's travel document.

She was brought to the police station after being told by Nik Sin that the photostated copy of her passport could not be accepted, while her companion drove back to their house to get her passport.

At the police station, the woman was brought to a room where the three cops raped and forced her to perform oral sex on them. She was sent home on the same day in Syahiran's car and warned not to tell anyone about the incident.

The men were defended by lawyer R.S.N Rayer while the prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim. -- BERNAMA