KOTA KINABALU: Gerakan Wanita condemned a restaurant manager who allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl four months ago and then proceeded to wed her while the case is on-going.
Its deputy chief, Ng Siew Lai, also echoed calls from various parties to have Riduan Masmud charged instead of allowing him to walk away scot-free.
“I am really disgusted with the action of the rapist, whose name I cannot even bear to say out. The girl is just a child who has a future, but due to the action of the rapist, it has gone up in smoke.”
She said young children, especially girls, have to be protected as they have not reached the maturity of adults.
“Simply marrying the victim will be seen as seeking the back-door attempt to escape punishment. We can never allow a rapist to go scot-free after raping a victim by marrying her. Gerakan Wanita firmly believes that prosecution should be mandatory in statutory rape cases and marriage can never be a solution,” stressed Ng.
She added that to allow the rapist to walk away from punishment would be sending the wrong message and encouragement to other would be-rapists that all they needed to do was to marry the victim after committing the crime.
“I urge all quarters to fight for child-protection as every child deserves to be brought up in a happy environment without needing to endure the suffering that we adults are sometimes unable to handle ourselves,” she said.