Mongolian rape survivor hits fundraising target for suit against ex-cop

 

A Mongolian rape survivor has another opportunity to institute a civil action against the police officer who allegedly raped her.

This followed on the heels of her crowdfunding campaign today which successfully collected RM46,500 to fund her second legal attempt to sue the police officer.

A check on online crowdfunding platform pitchIN showed that the campaign succeeded in collecting the RM46,500 needed to fund her refiling of the civil action at the Sessions Court.

Her legal representative, law firm Messrs Thomas Philip, helped create the crowdfunding campaign over a week ago after the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed her suit against her alleged attacker.

The court made the order when the victim-plaintiff was unable to pay the RM70,000 in security for costs sought by the defendant, who is the police officer.

The defendant had sought the security for costs on the grounds that the plaintiff was a foreign national.

However, senior human rights lawyer Honey Tan Lay Ean said that the High Court actually has the discretion to waive the security for costs payment if the case's circumstances make it just to do so.

She said among the circumstances that the court could have considered was the high quantum of the payment.

Earlier on Jan 27, Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah and Kampung Tunku assemblyperson Lim Yi Wei urged the High Court to reconsider its recent decision to strike out the survivor's civil action.

The two lawmakers said the court needed to reconsider the decision due to rape survivors' lack of means to pay high security for costs, among others.

The police officer made headlines last April when he was charged with trafficking and raping two Mongolian women - one of them being the survivor.

The 30-year-old police inspector had stopped a vehicle transporting the women while on duty at a police roadblock at the NPE Toll Plaza in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Instead of taking them to the police station, he had allegedly taken them to a hotel. He is accused of abusing his position as a police officer and employing criminal force to commit the crimes.

The survivor previously said she intends to pursue the case despite losing her reputation back home and struggling to obtain support from her family and friends.

'Client now has two options'

When contacted by Malaysiakini today, the survivor's lawyer, Mathew Thomas Philip, expressed gratitude to members of the public who sympathised with his client's plight and donated to the crowdfunding.

"We are very thankful for the overwhelming response from members of the public," he said.

Philip said that with the crowdfunding initiative's success, his client now has two options regarding the suit against the alleged attacker.

Philip said this is because they have a pending appeal at the Court of Appeal against the High Court decision to dismiss the civil action.

The lawyer said they would be advising the survivor over the two options, one in regards to the pending appeal at the Court of Appeal, and the other over any proposed refiling of the civil action at the Sessions Court.

"We will consider the options available and will advise our client on the best course of action, moving forward," he said.

He said that the appeal before the Court of Appeal is for the civil action's reinstatement at the High Court.

The lawyer added that the appeal before the Court of Appeal Registry would come up for case management on March 2. - Mkini