MIRI, Jan 18 — State Welfare, Community, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Sri Fatimah Abdullah wants the police to thoroughly investigate the rape of a 16-year-old girl at the lockup of a police station here by a fellow detainee.
Saying she was ‘horrified and astonished’ that such an incident could happen, Fatimah stressed that a complete probe was needed in order to regain the confidence of the public in regard to the safety of suspects in police custody.
"How could this happen, of all places, in police station lockup? Two crimes took place — a 16-year-old girl was raped, and the case occurred in a police station lockup.
"To regain public confidence in the safety of the suspects while still in police lockup, a thorough investigation needs to be done without fear or favour,” she said in a statement yesterday.
She was responding to a police report filed by the teenager on Saturday, who said she was raped on January 9 by a male detainee while being held in the police lockup.
She had been detained earlier for alleged involvement in online gambling activities and was placed in a cell separate from 12 male detainees.
In her report, she claimed that one of the male detainees, who is a juvenile offender, exited his unlocked cell and had with him the key to the women’s lockup which he used to open her cell door.
He then brought her to the police station’s toilet where he raped her.
Fatimah meanwhile said she was glad that swift action had been taken against the rape suspect who was charged in the Court for Children on January 12 and pleaded guilty to the offence.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail on Saturday night confirmed that two policemen on duty on the night of the incident had been suspended from work pending the completion of a disciplinary probe.
He assured that stern action would be taken against the policemen and their supervisor in the event of negligence and non-compliance to the standard operating procedure while on duty.
Accompanying the girl to lodge her report was her father, and they were joined by Senator Alan Ling and Ling’s special assistant Lawrence Low who is the lawyer representing the victim in this case. — Borneo Post Online
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