Rapes, Incest, And Prostitution: Shocking Sex Crimes In Sarawak In The Past 2 Months

According to a report on the rising cases of sex crimes in Sarawak, Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, said that there were 251 cases of sexual violence against children from January until April 2017. That's 74 more cases compared to the same period in 2016.

"This was followed by outraging modesty cases with an increase of 15 cases (125%) from 12 cases in 2016 to 27 cases this year, rape cases with an increase of nine cases (24.32%) from 37 cases in 2016 to 46 cases this year and sodomy cases with an increase of two cases (100%) from two cases in 2016 to four cases this year," she revealed, during a forum on Sexual Crime Against Children in May, as reported by Borneo Post.

Earlier this month, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim revealed that a total of 3,272 incest cases were reported from 2006 to 2015 in Sarawak. Most of the victims are between the ages of 13 and 15.

The cases are numbered chronologically.

The perpetrator, Lai Chee Hiang, 37, was arrested at about 3pm on 2 October after two of the victims lodged police reports against him. Lai is a primary school teacher in Serian.

The first three charges were of him forcing an 11-year-old boy to perform oral sex on him at the school's student affairs office between May and August 2017. Lai was also charged with three counts of touching the same victim's private parts at a classroom in the school during the same three-month period.

The seventh and eighth charges against Lai was for touching the private parts of two other male students, who are 11 and 10 years old, respectively. Lai's last victim is a 12-year-old boy. He had touched the boy's private parts in a classroom, in the same school, sometime in July this year.

Lai was denied bail by Judge Shafiza Abdul Razak Tready yesterday, 9 October, and she fixed 25 October for further mention of the case.

On 21 September, Sri Aman Hospital informed the authorities about a 14-year-old girl who had attempted suicide by jumping off the first floor of the school hostel. She survived the fall and was taken to the hospital for a medical examination which revealed that she was five weeks pregnant.

About a week later, the teenager told the medical social officer at the hospital that she was raped twice by her 54-year-old step-grandfather in August 2017. The medical officer lodged a police report on the incident immediately after hearing the confession.

"The suspect had fetched the victim from her hostel to bring her home for the weekend. Instead of taking her home, he took her to a hut in an oil palm plantation and raped her. A week later, the suspect raped the victim in the living room of their house while everyone was asleep," explained Sarawak CID chief Datuk Dev Kumar, as reported by New Straits Times.

In a shocking turn of events, the suspect killed himself by consuming pesticide on 28 September. He was found in a semi-conscious state, on the ground, near a hut in a paddy field in Sembayang and was pronounced dead 5am the next day.

Dev Kumar said that the case is considered solved as the only suspect in the case has died.

It was reported on 8 October that a young mother had allegedly forced her teenage daughter into prostitution to settle her debts in Limbang, Sarawak. The 14-year-old girl was reportedly working as a waitress at a karaoke centre in Lawas, a small town in Limbang division.

According to reports, the teenager was forced to engage in sexual activities with the man on three occasions. The payment for her "services" were paid via the karaoke lounge owner, who gave part of the money to her mother.

The villagers reportedly informed the authorities about the victim's mother who had serious money problems from her many debts.

After months of enduring the sexual assaults and exploitation, the girl finally lodged a police report at the Lawas police station on Sunday morning. The mother and the karaoke lounge owner were arrested on the same day. A day later, the authorities picked up a 23-year-old man in connection with the case.

They are currently trying to ascertain the role of the man in the alleged prostitution case. The case is being investigated under Section 376 of the Penal Code and 43 (1) (a) and (d) of the Child Act 2001.

On 20 September, a 13-year-old girl in Miri was reported missing by her father. She returned home the same day and alleged that she was raped by three men.

She had reportedly told her father that she was coerced into having sex with three men on two separate occasions. The victim claimed that she was first raped by an 82-year-old man at a homestay in town, after which he paid her RM700. The elderly suspect is the same prominent businessman who was arrested on 19 September for the alleged rape of another 13-year-old girl in Miri.

"On the second incident, the victim claimed she was threatened by a woman, who had forced her to have sex with two men at a hotel here. The victim said the two men took turns raping her at the hotel. She did not show any resistance because she was afraid that she would be beaten by the woman and the two men," explained Miri district deputy police chief Superintendent Stanley Jonathan Ringgit, as reported by New Straits Times.

A police report was lodged by the victim's 55-year-old father on Sunday, 24 September. A day later, a 36-year-old man was arrested in connection with the girl's case and the authorities are in the process of identifying and locating the other suspects. The case is being investigated under Section 376 of the Penal Code for rape.

It was reported that the father-of-four first committed the heinous act on the night of 6 January 2016. The victim was sleeping in the same room as her mother and three other siblings when she was raped by her father. She told the authorities that her father raped her almost every night from January until December 2016. He continued raping her on several other occasions this year, when the 13-year-old came back home on weekends as she started staying at her school's hostel.

She was raped in July, early and late August, and one last time on 5 September this year, before she returned to the hostel. Her father was arrested on 6 September, after a doctor at the Sarikei Hospital informed the police of an alleged rape case.

The 38-year-old man was sentenced to 480 years in prison and 18 strokes of the rotan for raping his teenage daughter.

Borneo Post reported on 19 September, that the man was slapped with a jail sentence of 30 years for each of the 16 offences he was charged with under Section 376A of the Penal Code. However, the Sessions Court in Sarikei ordered the sentences to run concurrently, so, the rapist will only serve 30 years in prison.

A 53-year-old man was arrested for allegedly raping his own granddaughter multiple times in Sibu, Sarawak. The victim was only six years old when the sexual assaults started last year.

The perpetrator is an ex-convict who was previously jailed and slapped with a 12-year prison sentence for raping his own daughter in 2008. He was released in August 2016 and his daughter was 15 years old when the incident happened.

It was reported that his 25-year-old son has also been arrested for allegedly raping the same girl, who is his niece. The victim broke her silence on the incident recently and told her mother on 2 September when visiting her in Mukah during the school holidays.

"The victim's parents separated around the time she was born. The mother remarried in 2013 and moved to Balingian with her new husband, leaving her daughter (victim) in the care of the child’s grandmother in Sungai Durin.

"The grandfather came back to the longhouse and stayed together following his release from prison in August 2016. That was when it (the rapes) all started to happen," explained Sarawak CID head Datuk Dev Kumar, as reported by Borneo Post on 7 September.

In one of the most shocking rape cases reported in Sarawak this year, two teenage sisters were allegedly raped repeatedly by their father, grandfather, and two uncles over the past six years.

The sisters from Kampung Doha in Serian, Sarawak, have been going through the nightmarish ordeal ever since they were 13 and nine years old, respectively. The police found out only when they were told by Serian Hospital of a teenage pregnancy case involving a 19-year-old, who is the eldest of the two sisters.

Only when she was quizzed about the odd circumstances surrounding her pregnancy, did she reveal that she and her sister (14 years old now) have been victims of lust for years now.

According to a report by New Straits Times, all four perpetrators - aged between 26 and 57 - were arrested on 11 August.

On 25 August, Judge Marutin Pagan sentenced the 57-year-old grandfather, 42-year-old father, and two uncles - aged 26 and 28 - to 335 years' in jail. They were also sentenced to 24 strokes of the rotan.