Fadley Faisal
A 22-year-old local man yesterday pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
Rafaie bin Muhd Ramli admitted to Deputy Public Prosecutor Raihan Nabilah binti Haji Ahmad Ghazali’s facts of the case which was revealed in court yesterday, that the victim is an acquaintance of the defendant’s friend.
The court further heard that the defendant and his friend went to fetch the victim from home at 8pm on June 4 in Kampong Lumut and hung out at the Tutong waterfront until 2am.
Then they sent the defendant’s friend home in Tutong District, planning to send the victim home next, while she was still in the rear seats of the car.
But before they reached Kampong Lumut, the defendant stopped by the roadside on the Mumong bypass, wound up the windows and went to the back seat.
The defendant asked the victim if they could have sex, but was rejected, and forcefully performed two sexual acts on the victim. The victim told the defendant to let go of her, but to no avail and kept sexually assaulting her.
The defendant then asked a second time for sex, to which the victim said only if the defendant could pay her for it.
The victim knew the defendant had no money on him and had struck up the idea to be left alone and sent home immediately.
This made the defendant move back behind the wheel and told the victim to move to the front passenger seat.
The defendant continued his attempts to coax the victim to let him perform sexual acts on her. The victim stood her ground and repeatedly rejected him.
Frustrated, the defendant eventually drove the victim home. As they approached the victim’s home, the victim jumped out of the car to escape from the defendant.
The defendant realised that the victim’s household members were waiting for her and saw the incident. The defendant got scared and drove off.
The victim and her family lodged a report at the Kuala Belait Police Station that day and led to the defendant’s arrest on September 15. Magistrate Syafiq bin Haji Zakaria ordered the defendant remanded while deferring handing sentence to October 1.
