Senior Sabah cop gets 100 years’ jail for raping, sodomising minor

KOTA KINABALU - A senior police officer was sentenced today to a total of 100 years in jail and 15 strokes of the rotan after a Sessions Court here found him guilty of raping and sodomising a 13-year-old girl.

Deputy Superintendent Rohaizat Abdul Ani, a one-time Setiu OCPD and former vice cop at the Sabah police headquarters, was charged with four counts of raping and one of sodomising the minor between February 1, 2012 and May 6, 2012.

Sessions court judge Ainul Shahrin Mohd said the prosecution had proven the case beyond reasonable doubt and found the 54-year-old accused guilty of all five charges.

When seeking a more deterrent sentence, deputy public prosecutor Azeezi Nordin pointed out to the court that the accused, as a high ranking senior police officer, should be setting an example for the police force instead of destroying its image.

“He should be a guardian to the public, not otherwise,” he said.

The DPP also pointed to the huge age difference of 40 years between the victim and the accused and said it was clear that the latter never considered this when carrying out the offences.

“The repetitious act of the accused in the three month period from February to May 2012…. he raped the victim four times and sodomised her one time.

“It shows that the accused never considered the victim’s age, emotions and consequences of his action in the eyes of law,” said Azeezi.

In rebuttal, defence counsel Zahir Shah reminded the judge that this was Rohaizat’s first offence but added that he would leave the matter to the discretion of the court.

The charges, under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code for rape, and Section 377 B for sodomy all carries a maximum jail term of up to 20 years and whipping on conviction.

For the first two charges of raping and sodomising the victim on February 1, 2012 between 4.30pm and 5.30pm in a room at Tang Dynasty Hotel, Ainul sentenced Rohaizat to 20 years imprisonment and three strokes of the rotan. This sentence, however, is to run concurrently, the judge said.

The judge subsequently sentenced the accused to 20 years’ jail and three strokes of the rotan each for the third, fourth and fifth rape charges, which took place on February 2, 2012 between 12.30pm and 1.30pm in the same hotel, and between May 1 and 6, 2012 at 8pm and 3am. The judge ordered these sentences to run consecutively.

This means Rohaizat will have to serve a total of 80 years in prison and be given 15 strokes of the rotan.

Judge Ainul, however, granted the senior police officer a stay of execution pending his appeal to the High Court.

Rohaizat was also ordered to post a RM100,000 bail before 3.30pm today with one surety and surrender his international passport to the court. Ainul also ordered him to report to the Bukit Aman police headquarters every 1st and 5th of the month.

Rohaizat, who was in a dark coloured jacket, was accompanied by his wife in court today. Both showed little emotion during the proceeding. 

Rohaizat shielded his face with newspapers to prevent himself from being photographed by reporters when exiting the court house.

By Julia Chan