Mak Gonda to spend two and a half years behind bars for turning her underage maid into prostitution.
KOTA KINABALU: A woman was yesterday jailed for two and a half years for trafficking a 13-year-old girl from the Philippines for sexual exploitation.
Mak Gonda Ab Rahman, 61, pleaded guilty before Sessions Court judge Caroline Bee Majanil to a charge under Section 12 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Illegal Immigrants Act 2007, which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years and a fine.
The accused, who was not represented, committed the offence in a hotel room at Kampung Air here on September 27 this year.
Deputy public prosecutor Monica Linsua told the court that the accused had during her arrest told police the girl was her daughter, and admitted to using her for prostitution, but it was later found that the girl was not her daughter.
Investigation revealed the accused asked the girl to charge customers between RM80 and RM150 for sexual services, said Monica.
She said a police team found a man in the hotel room with the girl.
It was also found that the girl was working as a dishwasher for the accused in Tawau before the latter brought her to Kota Kinabalu to work as a prostitute at Kampung Air.
The accused pleaded for leniency, saying that she was remorseful for what she had done and promised not to repeat the offence.
Mak Gonda, who has six children, said she is an old woman and suffering from asthma and gout.
Linsua pressed for a deterrent sentence, saying the woman had committed a serious offence and the facts of the case should be taken into account.
She submitted that the accused had hired the girl as her maid before taking her to the city to work as prostitute.
Linsua added that the victim was afraid of the accused and wished to see her grandparents in Tawau.