Wednesday April 24, 2013
Sisters to stay in jail for outraging maid's modesty
By QISHIN TARIQ
[email protected]
PUTRAJAYA: Two sisters who outraged the modesty of their maid using a banana and a bottle will remain in prison after the Court of Appeal refused their leave application to appeal against their conviction and sentence.
The three-man panel, chaired by Justice Abdul Malik Ishak, dismissed the application by Wong Choy Ling and Wong Choy Kin over the Shah Alam High Court's decision to convict and sentence them to five years in jail.
The panel, which also included Justices Azahar Mohamed and Balia Yusof Wahi, accepted DPP Andi Razalijaya A. Dadi's objection to the legal questions posed, ruling that there was no question of law involved.
They had faced four charges under the Penal Code for causing harm and outraging the modesty of the maid, Hanif Muawanah Muhyi.
Choy Ling, 41, and Choy Kin, 39, were found guilty of repeatedly outraging the modesty of Hanif by inserting biscuits, a banana and a bottle into her private parts.
They were also charged with voluntarily causing hurt to Hanif, then 25 years old, between November 2003 and September 2004.
The sisters committed the offence at a house in Taman Bukit Serdang, Seri Kembangan.
On Oct 13, 2011, the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court convicted and sentenced them to eight months in jail for causing hurt to Hanif, who is from Surabaya, and two years in jail for outraging her modesty.
Magistrate Mohamad Ibrahim Mohammad Ghulam ordered them to serve the sentences concurrently.
They appealed before the High Court against the conviction while the prosecution cross-appealed against inadequacy of punishment.
On Sept 11, last year, the Shah Alam High Court dismissed the sisters' appeal against their conviction and jail sentence.
Justice Noor Azian Shaari allowed the prosecution's cross-appeal and increased the prison sentence for molestation to five years and maintained the eight months' jail term for causing hurt, to be served consecutively.
The sisters were not granted a stay between the proceedings and have been in prison since Oct 13, 2011.
They are due to be released in 2016.
