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Monday, June 3, 2013

Sabahan charged with bribing child-bride’s dad to drop rape complaint

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — A 40-year-old Sabahan, accused of raping a 12-year-old girl whom he later married, was today charged with bribing her father to withdraw his police report.
Riduan Masmud, a father of four, has claimed trial to offering his child-bride’s father RM5,000 on April 18 and paying the latter RM2,000 and RM3,000 between 9pm and midnight at separate locations in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on the same day, The Star Online news portal reported.
Sessions Court judge Caroline Bee Majanil released Riduan on RM2,000 bail in one surety after his lawyer Loretto S. Padua Jr pleaded for a reduction of the RM10,000 bail in two sureties proposed by deputy public prosecutor Mukhriz Mat Rus, who acted for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“This amount is too high and my client cannot afford it,” Loretto was quoted as telling the court. He reportedly said Riduan had been suspended from his job as a restaurant manager and was now working part-time.
The judge also set June 21 as the case management date.
Riduan has been accused of raping the girl, then aged 12 years and six months, in a parked car in Inanam around 10am on February 18.
The incident that has sparked a public uproar came to light when the girl’s aunt filed a police report.
Despite being charged with statutory rape on February 28, he reportedly proceeded to marry the girl in the syariah court soon after.
The Sessions Court has reportedly been informed that a syariah marriage certificate had been presented to the investigating officer to confirm the 40-year-old was now wed to the girl he had allegedly raped.
Riduan is reported to have fathered two girls and two boys with his first wife; the youngest aged two and the eldest, a 17-year-old girl, was reported by The Star Online as having accompanied her father to court today.
He is due to reappear in court this Thursday to find out if the Attorney-General will proceed with charging him with statutory rape. 
A-G Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail (picture)had last month said he will press statutory rape charges against the 40-year-old regardless of the man’s marriage to the minor.
The public prosecutor was previously reported to have dropped the charge after Riduan declared he taken the girl as his second wife, a decision that sparked a public storm.
“We have never dropped the charge against him.
“I have directed my officers to gather more evidence and we will proceed with the case,” Abdul Gani told reporters in Putrajaya on May 22.
He said his office was collecting further evidence, including a DNA report, and was also asking the MACC to investigate the claim by the girl’s father that Riduan paid him RM5,000 as compensation, a decision that had reportedly been handed down by Sabah’s “Mahkamah Adat”, a special custom court.
The Sabah Welfare Department is taking steps to take the girl under its care and protection while trying to nullify her marriage to Riduan.
Sabah Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Jainab Ahmad was reported as saying she had directed her officers to take immediate action to obtain a court order to have the girl placed under the care and protection of the department under the Child Act 2001.
“The girl was only 12 years and six months. I believe the victim is in a trauma. She should be protected instead marrying the man who had raped her,” she was quoted as saying on May 22 by state news agency Bernama.
Jainab had cast doubt on the validity of the marriage between Riduan and the girl after checking with syariah court officials.
“A registrar told me there were two applications, one from the man seeking consent to take a second wife, and another from the father of the girl seeking permission for his daughter to marry.
“They told me the father’s application was allowed but there was no consent given for the man to take a second wife,” the state minister was quoted as saying.
Reports of child marriages in Malaysia have been increasing in the last few years, as have cases of adults who had sex with minors escaping jail time.

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