National Security Council sets up internal probe committee
Published on: Saturday, November 03, 2018
Papar: The National Security Council (NSC) has established an internal committee to investigate the alleged rape of an underage former detainee of the Kimanis temporary detention centre (PTS) here.Its Sabah Director Sharifah Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said although they have yet to confirm the full situation, the agency will let the police carry out investigations according to the law. "For NSC, we take this matter seriously and will take internal action. We have formed an internal committee led by State NSC Chief Assistant Director (Operation) ACP Shahrir Daud."This committee that was formed today (Friday) is aimed to give us a clearer picture of what actually happened in this case.
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"But for now we will let the police carry out their investigations. We do not want to obstruct the process and will let the law determine who is the culprit," she told Daily Express, Friday.She also said the NSC has a strict policy involving contacts between officers and detainees, which is implemented in all the temporary detention centres, particularly in Sabah."Actually there is a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on the management of detainees."For this (alleged rape case) we ask to let the police do their investigations and hope to get a fair report for both parties and bring the culprit to justice," she added.
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On Friday, it was reported that an underage former detainee of the temporary detention centre alleged that she was raped by one of the guards during her detention there.Meanwhile, the woman, who had lodged a police report on Thursday alleging her underage niece was raped by a guard while she was in detention at the Kimanis PTS, has retracted the report.
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However, the woman told Pertubuhan Permuafakatan Perpaduan Masyarakat Peranakan Suluk Bajau Sabah President Datu Dr Sharif Muhammad Akjan and her legal counsel at the association's office in Likas, Kota Kinabalu, Friday, that she had to do so out of fear. According to her, at about 5.30pm later the same day she lodged the police report and after her and her niece's statements were recorded by the investigating officer, she was taken to a meeting room where she met her niece.The woman claimed that at about 10pm later five male officers in plainclothes and a female officer in uniform interrogated her and her niece. After some explanation about the incident at the PTS Kimanis, she said they accused her of giving a false report. She said according to the police officers, her niece and the guard, who her niece had accused of raping her, were actually lovers at the detention camp. The woman then heard her niece informing the police officers that she had sexual intercourse twice with the said guard at PTS Kimanis. She said after tremendous pressure from the police officers, both she and her niece withdrew the report involuntarily. Later the policewoman, whom she cannot identify her name, prepared a police report withdrawal letter and asked her to sign it. "I was advised by my legal counsel that the issue is not the withdrawal of the police report, but rather statutory rape has been committed against the victim who is underage at the time when she was detained at the detention at PTS Kimanis," said Akjan. "We also sought legal advice to which the counsel said that if any doubt about the victim's age, the investigation officer needs to send the victim for dental examination," he said. The woman had lodged the police report after her niece, who was deported to the Philippines after the alleged rape and is now six months' pregnant, has returned to Sabah to seek justice. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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