Another?? - Kindergarten co-owner acquitted for rapingfour-year-old girl

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Kindergarten co-owner acquitted for rapingfour-year-old girlByJOSEPHINE JALLEH

GEORGE TOWN: The kindergarten co-owner, EwePeng Lip, 49, who was earlier found guilty of raping a four-year-old girl, hasbeen acquitted and discharged by a High Court here in an appeal decisionTuesday.

High Court Judge Zamani Abdul Rahim deliveredthe judgment, which lasted over three hours this morning.

He said the prosecution failed to prove aprima facie case against the accused.

Ewe had been found guilty of rape on March 29and sentenced to 20 years in jail and ordered to receive 10 strokes of therotan by the Sessions Court.

He was said to have committed the offence onthe girl, who is now eight, at a kindergarten in Bukit Dumbar between 8.10amand noon some time between January and April 2008.

Zamani added that the prosecution should filean appeal to a higher court.

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NGO: Children’s testimony not the same as adultsByJOSEPHINE JALLEH and ANDREA FILMER
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: The Women's Centre for Change(WCC) has called on the courts to give greater consideration to the testimonyof child witnesses.

WCC executive director Loh ChengKooi saidthe same standards could not be applied to a child witness as an adult.

“A child may recollect what has happened butnot necessary in the proper sequence. A child's language and recollection aredifferent,” she said yesterday.

Loh was commenting on the case of kindergartenco-owner, Ewe Peng Lip, 49, who was freed yesterday following an appeal againstthe verdict of a Sessions Court which convicted him of raping a four-year-oldgirl.

Justice Zamani Abdul Rahim, who heard theappeal, ruled that the girl's testimony was far-fetched and implausible.

“We are disappointed with the High Court'sjudgment. This judgment highlights the difficulty that child victims of sexualcrimes face when assessing justice through the courts,'' Loh said.

She also urged for better investigationofficers and prosecution as Justice Zamani, in his decision, had highlightedgaps in the prosecution's evidence.

On Justice Zamani saying that women have atendency to exaggerate about a sexual act, Loh said it was a stereotype andshould not be linked to cases involving children.

Christine Khor, from WCC, who held a watchingbrief for the girl's family, said the judge's decision had to be respected.

When contacted, Children's Protection Society(CPS) Penang president DatukSeri Nazir Ariff wasalmost speechless.

“There have been three such cases (involvingalleged rape of minors) in just a month.

“I don't know what to say. There must besomething technically wrong with our law,” he said.

He was referring to two other cases in whichformer national youth squad bowler Noor Afizal Azizan, 21, and electricianChuah Guan Jiu, 22, had both been bound over on good behaviour bonds afterbeing convicted of statutory rape.

Nazir urged the courts to look into thepossibility of conferring with professional child psychologists beforejudgments are made so child witness testimonies could be thoroughly assessed.