Indonesian waiter denied bail over rape charge

KOTA KINABALU: An Indonesian waiter, charged with raping a teenage girl, was denied bail by the Sessions Court here yesterday.

Judge Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim did not grant any bail to Muslimin Lamasu, 29, who pleaded not guilty to raping a teenage girl whom he just knew, as she ruled that the accused had no valid document to stay in Sabah.

The accused had allegedly raped the 13 years and five months old girl at a rented shop in Tuaran between 5am and 6am on September 2.

The accused, who was represented by counsel Goldam Hamid, urged court to release him on a bail on the grounds that he is properly documented. He has a birth certificate for foreigner born in Sabah

The counsel argued that even though his client did not have an identity card the accused has proper documentation of a registered birth certificate for foreigner (surat beranak daftar orang asing) to show that the accused was born in Sabah.

Goldam also said that his client informed him that he (the accused) never had been to Indonesia and the accused holds a valid passport.

The passport, which was kept and brought by the accused, was later produced in court for the court to peruse it.

The judge asked “Counsel, have you taken a look at the passport?” and the counsel answered “Yes”.

The judge then questioned the counsel: What did you mean by submitting in court that your client is properly documented when the passport was issued by the Indonesian Consulate.

The counsel: What I mean is, he was born in Sabah and my point of syaing properly documented is that he holds a registered birth certificate for foreigner.

In reply, deputy public prosecutor Dinesh Raja raised objection to the bail application by the accused even though his passport is still valid.

Dinesh asked the accused in open court whether he had a visa to be in Sabah, to which the accused said that he did not know about it.

The court then fixed January 21 - 23 next year for the trial of the case.

In the meantime, the accused will be further detained in custody under Section 259 of the Criminal Procedure Code, pending disposal of the case.