Three 16-year-old schoolmates had their jail term increased from five days to 10 years for raping a 13-year-old girl

KUALA LUMPUR: Three 16-year-old schoolmates had their jail term increased from five days to 10 years for raping a 13-year-old girl last December.

The High Court enhanced the sentence yesterday following an appeal by the prosecution.

On March 20, the Special Court for underage offenders sentenced the four boys to five days in jail after they pleaded guilty to the crime.

The three pleaded guilty to gang raping the girl in some bushes in Taman Prima Pelangi at around 4am on Dec 7.

Justice Mohamad Shariff Abu Samah allowed the prosecution’s appeal to increase the sentences of the accused.

According to court documents, the victim was alone in the park that morning when she was approached by the four boys, two of whom she recognised.

They took turns raping and molesting the victim, ignoring her pleas to be let go. She was left in the park after the attack.

Lawyers Ravin Singh and Mohd Zaidi Hadi Othman represented the four accused and the prosecution was represented by Deputy Public Prosecutor Nordin Ismail.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated case in Langkawi, a three-night holiday turned out to be a nightmare for a Selangor tourist who alleged that she was nearly raped by a staff member at a resort in Padang Matsirat.

She wrote on her Facebook page that on Wednesday morning, after dressing up to go jogging, a shirtless man hiding behind a glass panel jumped out and pinned her on the bed.

“I started to scream like hell and struggled. He covered my mouth and asked me to stop screaming. I asked him what he wanted. He replied, ‘I want you’.”

She put up a fight, “struggling, pushing and punching”, while yelling for help. She realised later that some of her punches drew blood from her attacker, possibly from his nose.

The man then shoved her into the bathroom and escaped.

The woman called the reception who sent a driver to pick her up with the resort’s buggy.

She said the driver looked like the man who assaulted her, but she was not sure at first.

She checked out from the resort immediately, took along the bedsheet which had her attacker’s blood and went to the police station.

The police arrested the driver and after interrogation, told her the suspect, 17, had confessed to wanting to steal money from her but realised she was awake after entering the room. He had taken his shirt off to avoid being recognised as a hotel staff.

Langkawi OCPD Asst Comm Dr Che Ghazali Che Awang said the case was being investigated as assault, the use of criminal force with the intention to outrage her modesty and trespassing.

The operator of the resort said he was in Kuala Lumpur and was on the way back to Langkawi yesterday.

He added that he would cooperate with the police.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/12/01/raised-jail-term-for-gang-rape-sentence-increased-from-five-days-to-10-years-for-three-boys/#8AFWha0fl5SwX2pk.99