Many statutory rapes in Sabah

Kota Kinabalu: Deputy State Police Commissioner Datuk Razarudin Husain (pic) said as many as four out of five cases of sexual assault reported in Sabah involve statutory rape."They are frequent moral cases. Even though in some cases it is consensual sex, having sex with a girl below 16-years-old is still statutory rape.

"I see boys under age of 20 charged and put in jail for statutory rape. It is in fact a loss to the government because these youngsters are the manpower of the State.

"I see such cases happen a lot in Sabah…and I think the media should play a role in informing the people to take care of their children and create moral awareness," he said, when asked for statistics.

He said this after police rescued three girls believed to be human trafficking victims and arrested an 18-year-old boy, believed to be their caretaker, at a hotel room in Sandakan, Monday. The girls, aged between 15 and 17, had no documents.

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A public tip-off prompted police to raid the hotel premises where they found the girls in a room at about 6pm.

A total of RM300 was seized from the 18-year-old boy who holds a foreign passport.

"Such cases are not taken lightly, things like this should not happen, especially when it involves victims who are underage," he said, adding that the case is being probed under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act.

However, he said Sandakan could not be a transit point because things like this do happen, citing the February incident in Tawau where 11 foreigners were caught under the same Act.

"The victims are trafficked perhaps for vice activities or for labour but whatever it is, investigations are continuing," he said.

"It is still too early to say much, we are still investigating but I think it was not that long," he said when asked how long the victims were here prior to being rescued.

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He did not disclose the nationality of the victims except to say that when looking at areas in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone, most are from Indonesia or the Philippines.

Police have also conducted operations in Tawau, Kunak and in places suspected to have activities with similar elements. - Sherell Ann Jeffrey

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