The two cops charged with raping a 13-year-old girl inside a Sabah detention centre - during the controversial mass expulsion of illegal migrants in 2002 - were yesterday acquitted by the Sessions Court in Kota Kinabalu without even their defence being called.

Judge Nurchaya Arshad said the failure of the prosecution to gather corroboration from other guards allegedly present during the rape has left her in a "real state of doubt as to whether the incident...occurred as alleged."

Sabah Commissioner of Police Iliyas Ibrahim said today that the two General Operations Force lance corporals - who were suspended during the trial - will now be reinstated, New Straits Times reported.

The girl, dubbed Angelica by Filipino officials, was mistakenly identified as an undocumented Filipino and held at the Menggatal camp, when the rape was alleged to have taken place in 2002.

No signs of struggle

According to Bernama , the judge ruled yesterday that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the cops, Mohamed Fauzee Yahya, 34, and Ahmad Nazri Zainurrdin, 33, both of Perak.

Mohamed Fauzee was charged with raping the girl at Block G of the centre between July 27 and Aug 12, 2002 while Ahmad Nazri was charged with committing the offence at the same venue between July 27 and Aug 16, 2002.

Nurchaya said the prosecution failed to establish that the alleged incident had indeed taken place with or without the consent of the victim.

"There were no signs that the victim put up a struggle during the alleged incident as prosecution witness Dr Soon Ruey did not find any external injuries to the victim's private parts and no examination was conducted to find any injuries," she said.

Nurchaya said there was also a long delay between the time of the alleged incident and the time of the victim's complaint, which was made for the first time in the Philippines where she was mistakenly deported along with other Filipinos.

"The victim has alleged that the incident took place in full view of the other guards as the room door was left open.

"The prosecution has however chosen not to call any of the other guards to corroborate this story and I am in a real state of doubt as to whether the incident has occurred as alleged," she said.

Nurchaya also said that she had doubt concerning the issue of the victim suffering from gonorrhoea, when there was no evidence that the accused had contracted the disease.

The judge also threw out the testimony of the victim, which gave a physical description of both the accused.

"Even if the identification parade (IP) was conducted in a fair and proper manner, its evidential value was weakened from the fact that the victim was shown the photographs of the accused persons while she was in the Philippines and again before the second IP was conducted," she said.

Real age in doubt

The judge added that the prosecution had also failed to establish that the girl was under 16 years old during the alleged incident.

Although documents were tendered to prove she was under 16, her father as well as investigating officers had created doubts when they were unable to rule out the possibility that it might belong or refer to some person other than the girl, said Nurchaya.

Wrongfully deportated to the southern Phillippines city of Zamboanga in Sept 2002, Angelica's case received wide coverage in the Filipino media.

This in turn sparked off a diplomatic row between Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued a sternly-worded letter to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad over Malaysia's treatment of migrants, but Malaysian investigators soon found that Angelica was in fact Malaysian, thus ending the controversy.

The girl is currently under the care of Sabah's welfare services since her return to Malaysia.