Sarawak court sends 19-year-old to Henry Gurney School until 21 over child sexual abuse content

“KUCHING, May 15 — The Sessions Court here has ordered a 19-year-old student to be sent to Henry Gurney School Kuching until he reaches the age of 21 for having child sexual abuse materials on his smartphone. Judge Musli Ab Hamid also ordered the youth offender to undergo rehabilitative counselling throughout his detention period at Henry Gurney School Kuching in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (Soaca) 2017. The court further ordered the offender to undergo police supervision in Bau for two years upon his release from the institution pursuant to Section 27(1) of Soaca 2017. In addition, the court instructed the reform school to ensure the youth offender completes the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM). The court made the verdict after hearing the teenager’s social report from the Welfare Department. On April 10, the accused pleaded guilty to two charges framed under the Soaca 2017. For the first charge, he was accused of participating in a business related to child pornography under Section 8, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and not less than three strokes of the cane upon conviction. For the second charge under Section 10, he was accused of possessing child sexual abuse materials on his smartphone. The offence is punishable with imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to RM10,000, or both upon conviction. Both offences were committed at around 9.10pm on April 7 in a Bau village. It was previously reported that the teenager was arrested during a raid in Bau following intelligence gathered by the police. Bau police chief Supt Mohd Haide A Rahman had said inspections of the teenager’s device uncovered 936 obscene videos and 4,035 pornographic images. “Initial investigations found that the suspect is believed to have accessed pornographic websites involving adult and child content, apart from carrying out the sale of such materials through the Telegram application and promoting them on social media platforms,” he said. He added that the suspect admitted using the activity as a source of income. Deputy public prosecutor Marvind Kaliyani appeared for the prosecution while the accused was unrepresented. — The Borneo Post

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