Cops given the power to probe child porn, sexual grooming

PETALING JAYA: Police can now start investigating cases of sexual grooming and child pornography.

The Sexual Offences Against Children (SOAC) Act 2017, which obtained Royal Assent on July 3 and was gazetted on July 7, came into effect on July 10.

Prosecutions can now begin under the SOAC Act for child pornography, child sexual grooming, and people in positions of trust or authority who commit or abet such crimes.

When the judiciary’s new special court for child sexual crimes sat for the first time in Putrajaya on July 4, the five cases brought before Sessions Court judge Yong Zarida Sazali were all charges under the Penal Code involving rape and outrage of decency.

Lawyer and Voice of the Children president Sharmila Sekaran said police can now investigate offences that were committed from July 10 and onwards.

Sharmila said the SOAC also covered Malaysians who groomed foreign children while overseas or over the phone/ Internet from this country.

“It is also applicable where a perpetrator has committed any of the offences in a country where it is not an offence, and so is not charged overseas. The perpetrator can be charged in Malaysia,” she said.

“Likewise, for cases where there is evidence such as communication logs that show that a perpetrator committed an offence under the Act such as the grooming of a child or travelling to meet a child while overseas," she added.

Sharmila said that a Malaysian perpetrator can be charged, even if the offence is committed overseas and the child is not Malaysian.

Lawyer and child rights advocate Goh Siu Lin said the gazetting of the law would send a strong warning to sexual predators.

“This is good news. There’s finally a framework for sexual grooming cases,” said Goh, who is also the KL Bar Committee chairman.

Asked if programmes would be organised for lawyers on questioning child victims, she said the Bar Council’s Child Rights Committee was engaging with criminal law practitioners to ensure justice for all parties.

“In the long run, we would need best practices on cross-examining children, the setting up of ground rules, maybe even submitting questions to the judge first for approval,” she added.

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