Eric (centre) being escorted by the police at Kuching Court Complex today.
KUCHING (Nov 8): The Magistrates’ Court here today sentenced an e-hailing driver to six months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to using criminal force against a 27-year-old woman with the intention to outrage her modesty.
Eric Maang Dring, 50, from Kampung Sarig in Mile 27 here made the plea before Magistrate Syarifah Fatimah Azura Wan Ali, who also ordered his sentence to run with effect on the date of his arrest.
He was charged under Section 354 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term up to 10 years, a fine, whippings, or any two of the punishment upon conviction.
According to the charge, Eric committed the offence at a house in Kampung Sarig in Mile 27 on Nov 2 this year.
Based on the facts of the case, the victim had used Eric’s e-hailing service to get to the Kuching bus terminal after arriving by flight at the Kuching International Airport.
Eric however did not send the victim to the bus terminal but instead brought her to his house in Kampung Sarig.
When both of them had reached the house, Eric forced the victim to enter his house and ordered her to wait in the living room.
Eric who had stripped his clothes and only wore a towel around his waist then pulled the victim by the hand and forced her to go into his bedroom, while also holding a knife and continued to take off his towel.
The victim managed to let her hand go from the man and escaped to a nearby house to seek help.
A police report was subsequently lodged and acting on the information received, Eric was arrested on Nov 4 this year.
The case was prosecuted and investigated by Insp Mohd Adzmei Ahmad and ASP Sylvarius Gopog respectively.
Eric was unrepresented by a legal counsel.