Four months after a 13-year-old Sabah girl alleged rape, the decision on whether her assailants, who are said to be police officers, will be prosecuted now lies with the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Bukit Aman CID (Special Investigation) principal assistant director Takbir Ahmad Nazir said police submitted the facts of the case to the AG's Chambers last week after the completion of their investigation.

"We have already submitted our case to the AG's Chambers. We are now waiting for the decision on whether to charge (the alleged rapists) or not," he said when contacted today.

Takbir, however, gave no indication as to when a decision may be expected.

The rape claims surfaced after the 13-year-old, who was mistakenly sent to southern Philippines during a mass deportation exercise of illegal immigrants in late August, told Filipino social workers that she was raped by several policemen while in detention in Sabah immigration camps.

She was later discovered to be a Malaysian citizen by the special federal police team set up to investigate the allegations.

ID parade completed

Meanwhile, Takbir confirmed that the girl had been asked to identify her alleged rapists when she returned to Sabah from Zamboanga in December.

"She has been asked to identify (her alleged rapists) but I cannot comment on the outcome since the case (could be) pending before the court," he said.

Contacted later, lawyer Francis Ng Aik Guan, who was appointed by the Philippines government to represent the girl before her Malaysian citizenship was discovered, said he had not been informed as to whether his services will still be required following the developments in the case.

"I have had no news so I have no decision. I think she must be well looked after now," said Ng when asked if he will still be representing the minor should her case come to trial.

Ng and another Malaysian lawyer, Gerald John, had agreed to represent the girl after being approached by the Philippines ambassador in Kuala Lumpur last September.

The lawyer had said earlier that he would only consider whether to continue representing the girl if a request was made by the girl's family.

Following her return to Sabah, the girl was briefly reunited with her family but later placed in a state-run orphanage.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan is observing closely developments of the case and has visited the child at the orphanage.

The Philippines government had also declared that it would continue monitoring developments in the girl's case.