JOHOR BAHRU: An unemployed man was charged in the Sessions Court here today with raping and committing unnatural sexual intercourse on a woman at a house in Taman Perling, near here, on Thursday (Nov 12).
The accused, S. Dinesh Kumar, 32, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out to him before Judge V M Mabel Sheela.
According to the charge sheets, Dinesh Kumar was accused to have committed the acts against the 30-year-old victim at a house at Jalan Persisiran Pelangi 1, Taman Perling, at 6 am on Nov 12.
For the offence of rape, he was charged under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code and if convicted he is liable to maximum imprisonment for up to 20 years and whipping, while for the unnatural sexual intercourse offence, he was charged under Section 377C of the Penal Code which provides for imprisonment of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.
Earlier, Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Nur Sulehan Abd Rahman pressed for the court to disallow bail due to the seriousness of the offences, while the victim is still traumatised and injured as a result of being assaulted several times in the face and being forced to hand over RM2,000 in cash.
She also informed the court that this was not Dinesh’s first offence as he has several previous criminal records as well as being listed as a wanted person under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
Lawyer RS Amarpreet Singh, who represented the accused, appealed for lower bail on the grounds that the accused was no longer working and is supporting his wife (also unemployed) and three children while his mother is ill and in a wheelchair.
The judge then allowed the accused a bail of RM7,000 in two sureties and imposed additional conditions, namely, that the accused must report to the nearest police station once a month, surrender his passport and not disturb or harass the victim or witnesses involved in the case.
Meanwhile, in the Magistrate’s Court, Dinesh also faced four other charges including extorting the same victim and coercing her to hand over the cash, as well as voluntarily causing injuries to the victim’s face, at the same place and date.
The accused was charged under Section 385 of the Penal Code for extortion and Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt.
The father of three was also accused of failing to produce valid identification documents when he was examined by the police on Nov 12, at 6.25 pm in Taman Perling and gave false personal details to the authorities at the National Registration Department, here, at 11.45 am on Nov 15, this year.
Magistrate Nurasidah A. Rahman, set bail at RM12,000 for all charges in one surety.
In the same courtroom, Dinesh’s friend, Dewi Riskasari Sutardi, pleaded not guilty to voluntarily causing injury by kicking the same victim at the same place and date and she was charged under Section 323 of the Penal Code. Dewi, 25, was allowed bail of RM3,500.
Another friend of Dinesh, Salwani Yusof, 28, was accused of having failed to produce an identity document for police inspection in Larkin Jaya on Nov 13, and she was also accused of hurting the same victim by assaulting her the day before the incident at the same address and date.
The accused pleaded not guilty to both charges and was allowed a bail of RM2,000 on each charge.
DPP Benedict Choong Kai-Qi prosecuted while Dinesh was represented by Amarpreet Singh.
The other two accused were not represented by a lawyer and the court fixed Dec 22 for re-mention of the cases in two different courts. — Bernama
