KUALA LUMPUR: Former aide to a Bersatu assemblyman has been sentenced to 13 years in prison and two strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here for rape.
Judge Nor Hasniah Ab Razak, in a decision made last May 31, found Mohd Zulfahimin Mahdzir, 40, guilty of the offence.
Mohd Zulfahimin, then an aide of Gombak Setia assemblyman Muhammad Hilman Idham, was charged with raping the woman between 1am and 3pm on Dec 5, 2020, in a hotel room in Sri Hartamas here.
In her judgment, she said the defence failed to raise any reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case.
She said the court opined that the defence failed to provide any explanation to refute the testimony of the prosecution witness that the victim was drunk on the night of the incident.
"The court is of the view that the offence committed by the accused is serious and heinous because the accused took the opportunity to rape the victim while she was drunk," she said in a written judgment dated July 25 which was obtained by the media on Monday (July 29).
She said the defence by the accused that the victim invited him to accompany her did not mean that the woman consented to have sex with him.
She said Zulfahimin’s defence that he did not rape the woman was nothing more than mere denial and that the chemical report showed there were spermatozoa in the victim's vagina and the results of clinical tests found that they matched the accused.
Zulfahimin was charged under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code which provides imprisonment for up to 20 years and whipping upon conviction.
According to the prosecution’s narrative of the case, Hilman invited the victim to celebrate her birthday with three other friends, including the accused, at the hotel restaurant.
The five individuals and another friend then went to the karaoke centre at the hotel, where the victim got drunk and had to be taken to a hotel room, which was registered under her name.
Deputy public prosecutors Zilfinaz Abbas and Fazeedah Faik appeared for the prosecution while Zulfahimin was represented by lawyers Chris Kooi Wei Kit and Aivy Chin Ai Wei.- Bernama
