INDIAN NATIONAL JAILED FOR RAPING INDONESIAN

Labourer gets 13 years’ jail, 7 strokes of rotan for raping cleaner in December

AN Indian national was yesterday sentenced to 13 years’ jail and seven strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court here for raping an Indonesian house cleaner.

Judge Noradura Hamzah meted out the sentence after finding Balu Narayanan, 44, a labourer, guilty.

In handing down the decision, Noradura

said the accused had failed to raise a reasonable doubt at the end of the defence’s case.

She said the accused’s defence was merely a bare denial and that there were contradictions in his testimony when he took the stand as the sole witness in his case.

Noradura said the court had taken into consideration the seriousness of the offence and how it had affected the victim.

“This is disappointing. The accused had taken advantage of being here in this country to commit such a crime.

“Malaysia has always welcomed foreign nationals, be it for work or as tourists.

“But this does not mean that we allow them to do whatever they want here, especially when it is against the law.

“The court must impose an appropriate sentence to send out a clear message to all, especially foreign nationals, that sexual crimes against women and children will not be tolerated.”

She said the court had to take into account the life-long trauma the victim would go through.

Earlier, counsel Razman Sahat, who represented the accused, pleaded for leniency, saying that his client’s stay in the Malaysian prison as a foreign national would only add to the financial burden of the country.

“I plead for a minimum jail term so that the accused could be deported to India as soon as possible.”

Deputy public prosecutor Nur Farah Adilah Noordin said the court should take into consideration the impact of the crime on the victim.

“The impact of the accused’s offence is that it has indirectly tarnished the image of our country in the eyes of the world, as the crime was committed by a foreign national,” she said.

“The victim went to the accused’s house to work, but instead he took advantage of her.

“Such crimes would affect the security of society, especially women and children.

“The victim was traumatised by the incident.”

Nur Farah urged the court to impose a sentence that would send out a powerful message against sexual crimes to guarantee the safety of women and children.

The court ordered the accused to serve his sentence from yesterday.

According to the charge sheet, Balu committed the crime in Jalan Taman Sri Sentosa in Brickfields, here, at 11am on Dec 16 last year.

He was arrested on Dec 20 after the 43year-old victim lodged a report.