Disgraced envoy Rizalman terminated from armed forces

The government confirmed that former Malaysian defence attaché who was convicted of indecently assaulting a New Zealand woman has been officially terminated from military service.

“(Muhammad Rizalman Ismail) has been officially terminated from the service of the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) on Dec 19, 2016,” said Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein in a written parliamentary reply.

He was responding to a question by Tanjong MP Ng Wei Aik, who had asked whether any further action had been taken against the man since his deportation from New Zealand in November last year.

Rizalman, who also defecated outside the home of the woman, had been sentenced to nine months’ home detention after being found guilty of indecently assaulting a Wellington woman.

Two days after he was charged with the sexual offence in 2015, Rizalman invoked diplomatic immunity and returned to Malaysia.

However, his return to Malaysia triggered an outcry in New Zealand that was later attributed to miscommunication by Malaysian and New Zealand authorities.

An extradition request was made and he was returned to New Zealand to face trial there.

In November 2015, he pleaded guilty to the charge of indecently assaulting the woman in her home.

He had followed the woman to her home in the Wellington suburb on May 10, 2014.

The court heard that the woman had looked up and saw him wearing only a shirt and naked from the waist down. She screamed at him to leave.

Rizalman put his hands on her shoulders but she managed to push him into the living room and then out of the flat.

She then locked herself in the bathroom and called the police. A flatmate’s boyfriend arrived at her home and challenged Rizalman, who was still outside the front door.

Rizalman began walking away but was stopped down the road by the police.

At the time of the attack, he had been working at the Malaysian High Commission as a staff assistant to the Malaysian defence adviser.- Mkini