Rape-marriage case manager out on bail

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KOTA KINABALU: Restaurant manager Riduan Masmud who was convicted recently of raping an underage girl was released yesterday after posting bail.

According to defence counsel Ram Singh, the first wife of Riduan posted the RM15,000 bail together with a second bailor, who is his aunt.

Riduan was escorted by six prison officers and two police officers during the transaction at the courthouse here.

Ram said the transaction was completed about 4pm and Riduan was then brought back to the prison to show the bail documents.

Riduan was sentenced February 3 to 12 years’ jail and two strokes of the cane for raping the girl, whom he then took on as a second wife.

The statutory rape offence under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code carries a maximum of 20 years’ jail and whipping, on conviction.

The Sessions Court found him guilty of raping the then 12-year-and-six-month-old girl inside a car by the roadside near the Kionsom Waterfall in Inanamabout 10 am on February 18, 2013.

However, judge Ummu Kalthom Abd Samad had granted Riduan a stay of execution, pending an appeal to the High Court. Ummu then set a new bail at RM15,000 with two local sureties and one of the sureties must be his first wife.

In applying for a stay of execution, the court was informed that Riduan was suffering from some illnesses for which he has been hospitalized for.

Riduan is facing an ongoing trial at the Corruption Court for allegedly bribing the victim’s father to have the girl withdraw the police report against him for rape. He is set to appear for the corruption case on March 18, this year.