KUALA LUMPUR - The High Court here today ordered a former police officer to pay RM820,000 to two Mongolian women over non-consensual intercourse in two separate hotel rooms during the implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO), four years ago.
Judge Dr John Lee Kien How @ Mohd Johan Lee made the decision after finding the two Mongolian women as the plaintiffs had successfully proved their case on the balance of probabilities against Hazrul Hizham Ghazali, 34.
"After considering the undisputed and unchallenged testimony of the witnesses and the submissions, I have found that the plaintiffs have proven that the defendant (Hazrul Hizham) had non-consensual intercourse with both plaintiffs, at least six times with one of the women and twice with the other woman,” said Lee.
He said the court awarded the plaintiff (first Mongolian woman) a total of RM460,000 for damages including RM260,000 for general damages for battery (inclusive of non-consensual sexual intercourse), sexual harassment and false imprisonment as well as RM200,000 for aggravated and exemplary damages.
Meanwhile, for the second Mongolian woman, the judge awarded the plaintiff a total of RM360,000 for damages including RM160,000 for general damages for battery (inclusive of non-consensual sexual intercourse) and false imprisonment as well as RM200,000 for aggravated and exemplary damages.
The court also awarded RM20,000 for each plaintiff as the cost for the case.
According to Lee, the defendant has been unrepresented since his former solicitor discharged himself and that he was absent at the trial despite having been duly informed by his former solicitor.
"As per the strict instruction issued by the court, the trial proceeded accordingly and at the end of the trial, the plaintiffs filed in their written submissions to the court,” he said.
In 2020, the defendant was charged with two counts of trafficking the two Mongolian women for sexual exploitation and nine counts of raping and intending to outrage their modesty. However, he was freed from all the charges at the end of the defence case last year.
Based on the facts of the case read out by Lee in court, the two Mongolian women were stopped by the defendant at a roadblock in Petaling Jaya, Selangor during MCO on April 10, 2020.
The two Mongolian women were instructed to step out of the car and were brought to a nearby police tent before they were taken to a hotel in Petaling Jaya.
The defendant took the two Mongolian women to separate bedrooms at the hotel and had non-consensual intercourse with them between April 10 and April 11, 2020. - BERNAMA