Bangi Man Who Raped And Sodomised Baby Zara With His Fingers Gets 20 Years In Jail
He was also charged with murder on 23 November.
By Jia Vern Tham — 29 Nov 2018, 12:46 PM
Husband to the babysitter of 11-month-old Nur Muarzara Muhammad Zainal, better known as baby Zara, was sentenced to 20 years in jail and 12 strokes of the rotan yesterday, 28 November
New Straits Times reported that Hazmi Majid pleaded guilty to two counts of inserting his finger into Baby Zara's private parts in the Kajang Sessions Court yesterday.
He was then sentenced by Judge Datin Surita Budin, who ordered for his punishment to run concurrently from the day of his arrest – 13 November.
Hazmi, who worked as a barber, pleaded for a lenient sentence
Hazmi, who was not represented in court, argued that he has to support Zara's babysitter and their three children.
However, his plea was shot down by deputy public prosecutor Siti Noor Hafizan Zakaria, who asked the court to impose a heavy sentence on Hazmi due to the seriousness of the offence.
Zara died on 9 November after two days of being in critical condition at Serdang Hospital, following alleged physical and sexual abuse by Hazmi.
Despite his crime, Hazmi was not charged with rape under the Penal Code
theSun reported that he was instead charged with Section 377ca of the Penal Code for sexual connection by object, which carries a maximum jail sentence of 30 years and whipping.
On top of that, Hazmi was charged in the Kajang magistrate’s court on 23 November with the murder of the infant at the same place.
Although Hazmi raped baby Zara with his fingers, his act is not considered rape in Malaysia as written in Section 375 of the Penal Code:
"A man is said to commit 'rape' who, except in the case hereinafter excepted, has sexual intercourse with a woman..."According to The Canlaw Report, the Court of Appeal overturned rape charges against a man in 2015 because he used his fingers, tainted with his semen, to impregnate a 15-year-old girl.