PETALING JAYA: After a year of undercover investigations and campaigns against online child sexual predators by The Star’s R.AGE team, a case has been successfully brought to court.
A 38-year-old night market trader was sentenced by a magistrate’s court here yesterday to seven months in jail and fined RM4,000 for sending a lewd photo to a journalist posing as an underage girl.
Ahmad Azwan Abdul Aziz was found guilty of sending the photo of a penis through WeChat to the journalist at Star Media Group Bhd here at 3.37pm on March 10 last year.
He was charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code, which provides for up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
The case is the result of a lot of undercover work by the R.AGE team in exposing online child sexual predators through its Predator In My Phone campaign. The undercover journalist had posed as 15-year-old “Michelle Lim”.
Magistrate Zaki Asyraf Zubir said the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
In his judgment, he said the accused never denied sending the photo to the victim.
image: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/05/18/trader-jailed-and-fined-over-lewd-photo-man-sent-picture-of-genitals-to-journalist-who-was-posing-as/~/media/6a3dc5fc45dc4e68a23c58cc828607e2.ashx?h=550&w=350
Penalised: Ahmad Azwan arriving at the Petaling Jaya court.
Regardless of whether Michelle Lim truly existed, the magistrate said the victim who received the photo was still a person.
“A person is defined as a human being regardless of the individual. The name is irrelevant to the charge. A human being was affected,” the magistrate said.
Zaki Asyraf said he did not understand how the accused, being the father of a 10-year-old daughter, could commit such an offence.
“You are lucky you are charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code and not something more severe such as Section 354 or statutory rape.
“If someone else comes at your daughter this way, you would feel angry too,” the magistrate said.
Zaki Asyraf said the accused thought he was chatting with a minor.
“That makes it even more disgusting,” he added.
In mitigation, lawyer Muhammad Solehuddin Hakimi, who represented Ahmad Azwan, told the court that his client was a first-time offender.
“His wife suffers from kidney problems. He takes care of his parents and siblings too. The future of his family is more secure with him around.
“We hope the court will impose a good behaviour bond as punishment, without collateral,” he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Fazeedah Faik said the messages sent by the accused had aggrieved the receiver, causing her humiliation and to feel violated.
“I hope the court will pass a just sentence that will serve as a lesson to ensure the accused is really sorry for his actions,” she said.
Ahmad Azwan faces three more months in jail if he fails to pay the fine.
The court allowed a stay of execution on the jail term pending an appeal and fixed bail at RM1,500 in one surety.
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Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/05/18/trader-jailed-and-fined-over-lewd-photo-man-sent-picture-of-genitals-to-journalist-who-was-posing-as/#UraGo4y8FDV4OAmJ.99
