Woman cleared of sexual assault charges in unprecedented ruling

[Kasumi]

Woman cleared of sexual assault charges in unprecedented ruling

Zunika Ahmad pleaded guilty last December to six counts of sexual penetration and one count of child exploitation.

[video=youtube;J4sRp-c19Sw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4sRp-c19Sw[/video]

Published 9 hours ago
Selina Lum

SINGAPORE - In an unexpected turn of events, the High Court on Tuesday (April 12) cleared a woman of six charges of sexual penetration of a minor after ruling that only a man can be guilty of the offences.

Senior Judge Kan Ting Chiu made the unprecedented decision in the unusual case of Zunika Ahmad, a 39-year-old who is biologically female but has lived as man since she was a teen and had even "married" two women using the bogus identity of an Indonesian man.

The accused pleaded guilty last December to six counts of sexual penetration and one count of child exploitation under the Children and Young Persons Act for sexually abusing an underaged girl who lived in the neighbourhood.

Zunika had admitted penetrating the girl, who was between 13 and 14 years, with external aids.

On Tuesday, Justice Kan said that after hearing her mitigation plea and the prosecution's submission on sentence, "a doubt whether a woman could be charged with an offence under Section 376A(1)(b) arose in my mind".

He directed both sides to submit arguments on this issue. Both prosecution and defence submitted that a woman could be charged under the provision.

But Justice Kan concluded that the provision cannot cover women as offenders.

The provision states that "any person (A) who sexually penetrates, with a part of A's body (other than A's penis) or anything else", a person under the age of 16 is guilty of an offence.

Justice Kan said that A cannot be a woman.

"The reference to a person who has a penis cannot be construed to include a woman without doing violence to common sense and anatomy," he said in grounds of decision.

If a court were to interpret A to include a woman, it would be rewriting the law, he said.

Justice Kan said the "better course" was to leave it to the legislature to amend the provision to make it clear that A includes a woman, if that was indeed the intention.

He rejected the accused's plea of guilt on the six counts of sexual penetration, set aside the conviction and acquitted her of the charges. As for the remaining charge of sexual exploitation, he sentenced her to eight months' jail.

Zunika will start serving her sentence in six weeks' time to settle personal matters.

Her lawyer, Ms N. Sudha Nair, said that her client was very relieved and was very sorry for what she had done. Ms Nair said her client would go for gender reassignment surgery after she is released from prison.

A spokesman for the Attorney-General's Chambers said: "The prosecution will study the full written Grounds of Decision before deciding on the next appropriate course of action."

 

[Kasumi]

Prosecution appeals against ruling that cleared woman of sexual penetration of a minor

The prosecution has appealed against the ruling that acquitted Zunika Ahmad of sexual penetration and sexual exploitation of a minor, R (above, not her real name).ST PHOTO: JANICE TAI

Published 6 hours ago
Selina Lum

SINGAPORE - The prosecution has filed an appeal against the decision of the High Court last week to acquit a 39-year-old transgendered individual, who is biologically female but lived as a man, of sexual penetration of a minor.

In the unusual case, Zunika Ahmad had pleaded guilty in December 2015 to six counts of sexual penetration of a minor and one count of sexually exploitation under the Children and Young Persons Act.

In the unprecedented case, Senior Judge Kan Ting Chiu had ruled that sexual penetration of a minor, an offence under Section 376(A)(1)(b) of the Penal Code, applies only to men and a woman cannot be found guilty of the offence.

On Monday (April 18), a media statement from the Attorney-General's Chambers said: "The ruling on section 376A(1)(b) is a matter of public interest. In the arguments before Senior Judge Kan, the prosecution had submitted that section 376A of the Penal Code was clearly intended by Parliament to be gender-neutral."

In an unexpected turn of events, the High Court yesterday cleared a woman of sexual penetration of a minor, ruling that only a man can be guilty of the offences.

The statement added that the prosecution had also submitted that an analysis of the wording of section 376A(1)(b) in the context of the Penal Code as a whole showed that the provision was clearly intended to apply to both male and female accused persons.

These arguments were rejected by Justice Kan in the case of Zunika Ahmad, who had sexually abused a teenage girl who lived in the neighbourhood.

"Having reviewed the written grounds of decision, the prosecution has concluded that an appeal is merited against Senior Judge Kan's finding that section 376A(1)(b) does not apply to female accused persons, as well as his decision not only to set aside the accused's plea of guilt on these six charges but also to record an order of acquittal on all six charges," said the AGC statement.

The prosecution has also appealed against the sentence of eight month's jail imposed on Zunika for the remaining charge under section 7(a) of the Children and Young Persons Act.