Not statutory rape but just consensual sex

MM Online - Court acquits man of raping underage girl:

KUALA KANGSAR, Dec 9 — A 37-year-old self employed man was acquitted by the Sessions Court here of raping an underage girl in an oil palm estate two years ago.

In acquitting Mohammad Shariff Saad at the end of the prosecution’s case yesterday, Sessions judge Niran Tan Kran said the prosecution failed to prove a prima facie case against the accused.

Niran said the prosecution’s case hinged on the 15-year-old complainant’s testimony.

He said although the law did not allocate for supporting testimonies in such cases, it was the court’s practice to have supporting testimonies as it would not be safe to convict the accused unless the complainant’s testimony was unusually convincing.

“I have also reviewed the complainant’s testimony and her demeanour during trial and I found her testimony to be inconsistent, not credible and there were material discrepancies,” he said.

Your Honour, could it be because she's only 15 and under stress or confusion?

Kiran said the complainant had stated she was forced to have sexual relations with the accused.

“There was no element of threat or intimidation. In fact after the alleged incident, they rested and chit chatted before falling asleep,” he said, adding that the complainant had agreed during cross-examination she did not attempt to escape or put up a fight to avoid getting raped.

Hello, has anyone heard of statutory rape?

He said the contradiction was also found in the police report lodged two days after the alleged incident.

“If it was true she was raped, a report should have been lodged immediately,” he said.

The judge said the doctor who checked on the complainant’s private parts could not conclude that the tear was due to forced penetration.

The girl was only 15 years old, but the judge in freeing the man said “There was no element of threat or intimidation. In fact after the alleged incident, they rested and chit chatted before falling asleep.” 

To be fair, the news report was seemingly too vague. I'm not sure whether the discharged accused had had sex with the 15 year old sweetie.

But if there was, then the crime would have been statutory rape. OTOH, if there was no sex involved then statutory rape was not the case.

If the man had raba-raba her then the police should have charged him for sexually abusing a minor.

This reminds me of a so-called national bowler with (words of judge) a 'bright future' who was discharged for statutory rape because the then judges said he merely had 'consensual sex' with a 13 year old girl.

See my post 2nd chance as "boys will be boys" in which I brought out an incident in 2012 when a maggot by the name of Noor Afizal Azizan (and we shall call him Mr Maggot) was given a '2nd chance' by the judges because he only had consensual sex with a 13-year old - yes, 'consensual sex' with a 13-year old in the words of the judge.

Somehow our Malaysian legal system has set a stare decisis (legal precedent) where the term 'consensual sex' was allowed to be employed in a case involving sex with a female minor, only 13 years of age, even if she was well below the age required to legally consent to the act.

I know that Muslim (and Hindu) socio-culture allow marriage between adult or even old men with girls well below 16, and that such practice is a cultural norm. In earlier times the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese practised that too but they have long since thrown that incongruous marriage out of the window.

In America in 1958 or so rock singer Jerry Lee Lewis was ostracized for marrying Myra Gale Brown, his 13 year old 'first cousin once removed'. Jerry was 22 then but Western society turned against him for what they considered to be his vile act, that of an adult marrying a 13 year old minor. He fell drastically from grace.

Malaysian males must be careful when among Western societies as lil' (underage) Caucasian girls look like 'grownups' - don't just assume and then get into serious trouble

But those were marriages, not just recreational sex or shagging for syiok-ness. Nonetheless, some (especially Western and today's Chinese, Japanese and Korean societies) can't accept any marriage between an adult male and an underage girl.

Even in those medieval days, sex for just syiok-ness, whether with women of age or underage, was frowned upon.

But anyway I wonder whether the then judges were influenced by that Muslim cultural practice into ruling in Mr Maggot case that sex with a 13 year old could even be consensual.

As I said, today's MM Online news have been too vague (though there were subtle allusions to sex; then again there might not be) but if there indeed was sex between the discharged accused and the 15 year old minor, I wonder whether the learned judge applied stare decisis (set in Mr Maggot's trial) in his ruling or was he too influenced by Muslim customs?

FYI (which obviously didn't interest those judges in the trial of Mr Maggot), in statutory rape cases, unlike those of forcible rape cases involving adults, there is no requirement to prove force or threat had preceded or was involved in the rape.

The laws automatically presume coercion, because a minor or an adult (whether 13 or 15 years old, so long as the minor is below 16) who doesn't have normal/mature mental capacity is legally incapable of giving consent to the act.

In the case of Mr Maggot or Noor Afizal Azizan, those judges had the nerve to further excuse him on the basis Mr Maggot had a 'bright future'.

By the by, statutory raping a minor also applies to an adult woman having sex with an underage male, so cougars watch it, though in Malaysia it's presumably okay as we have an amazing stare decisis on 'consensual sex' with minors.

Mind you, another maggot, Chua Guan Jui, who like maggot Noor Afizal Azizan, statutorily raped another underaged girl around the same period as Mr Maggot No 1 (with the 'bright future'), did NOT enjoy that application of that stare decisis, probably because he did not have a 'bright future' and unlike Mr Maggot No 1, is a Cinapek who had already abandoned the culture of adult men marrying underage lil' girls.