Perbak claims to have evidence of five alleged rape and sexual abuse incidents

MALACCA: A non-governmental organisation (NGO) claims to have evidence of five alleged rape and sexual abuse cases involving teenage girls and those undergoing rehabilitation in government-run homes and rehabilitation centres across the country.

The NGO, Welfare and Social Organisation (Perbak), also claimed that in all cases, the alleged perpetrators were staff members tasked to look after the teenage girls while the victims were not given legal protection as the management of the homes and centres tried to cover the alleged crimes so as not to smear their reputation.

Perbak president Muhammad Khairul Hafiz said the cases recorded were in Arau, Perlis; Rembau, Negri Sembilan; Kuantan, Pahang; and here. All the cases were reported since the beginning of the year.

“We have the necessary documents provided by the victims and we will take this matter up to the higher authorities, including Unicef (United Nations Children's Fund).

“Our legal advisers are preparing all documents to be presented to the relevant authorities by the end of next week,” he said here yesterday.

Muhammad Khairul said one of the cases involved a 13-year-old girl who was recently released from a rehabilitation centre for juveniles here and is now two months' pregnant.

He said the girl claimed that she became pregnant after being raped by a staff member at the centre.

Muhammad Khairul said the girl's family had provided him with documents relating to the alleged rape, including her medical reports.

The girl was detained in the middle of the year for being involved in illegal racing with a group of boys.

He said the girl's family was advised by the management of the centre against lodging a report on her claim of being raped, saying it would investigate the matter and the responsible party would be prosecuted.

“The family finally decided to lodge a police report recently after realising that the centre was not acting on their complaints,” he said.

Muhammad Khairul said Perbak would expose more similar cases, including old cases, as more affected victims were coming forward to seek justice.

Perbak recently highlighted claims by three students of a home for boys in Durian Daun here that a senior official had fondled their private parts and made them perform lewd acts in front of him.

A staff member of the home had since been detained after he turned himself in at the Malacca contingent police headquarters on Nov 27.