The Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the decision made by Royal Brunei Armed Forces’ court martial in sentencing its personnel to 20 years’ jail and eight whippings on multiple charges of sodomy and sexual assault of fellow personnel during the first-of-its-kind hearing.
Awang Mohammad Khairul Hazwan bin Haji Maidin, who was a captain at the time, pleaded guilty on March 21 before the court martial to sodomising three personnel aged between 19 and 20 and sexually assaulting 13 personnel aged between 19 and 23 between January 2020 and July 2021.
Judge advocate Muhammed Faisal bin PDJ DSP Haji Kefli and six other military officers found the mitigating circumstances of the case were outweighed by aggravating factors, and thus believed in a sentence that carried a strong deterrent message to the Forces as well as the public.
The judge advocate said the case had caused irreparable damage to the reputation of the Forces through “a breach of trust of the worst kind”. As such the martial court was “less inclined to err on the side of leniency”.
Meanwhile, the former captain appealed against the convictions before Chief Justic Dato Seri Paduka Steven Chong as well as Justices Michael Peter Burrell and Conrad Seagroatt.
According to Awang Mohammad Khairul Hazwan’s counsels, the first charge, which could have been committed before March 21, 2020, was time-barred, according to Section 119(1) of the RBAF Act, which states: “No person shall be tried by court martial for any offence… unless the trial is begun within three years after the commission of the offence, there being disregarded any time during which he was a prisoner of war and any time during which he was illegal absent.”
Irregularities were also raised on all the remaining charges concerning evidence relating to the victims’ identities, claiming that it would have misled the former captain, amounting to a miscarriage of justice.
Aided by the RBAF, the three-member justices found the Court Martial’s convictions to be “appropriate”.
The Court of Appeal also found Awang Mohammad Khairul Hazwan to be fully in command of his actions and knowledge of the victims without any uncertainties up until sentencing. – Fadley Faisal
