Delivery worker fails to reduce 18 years' jail for rape of 11-year-old girl

Delivery worker Muhammad Nur Hidayat Md Selliman will continue to serve an 18-year jail term and be whipped 10 times for raping an 11-year-old girl four years ago.

The Court of Appeal last week denied an appeal by Hidayat, nicknamed “Joe”, over his punishment linked to the incident at a budget hotel in Batu Pahat, Johor.

On Nov 20, 2020, the girl met the 31-year-old outside a shop at Parit Raja, and she went into his Proton Waja for a ride around Taman U.

The driver then brought the girl to the hotel room around 2.30pm, where he committed the rape.

After the incident, the man dropped the girl off at a nearby shop and the fearful victim kept quiet about the incident until a month later.

Around December, her mother noticed a drastic change in the girl’s behaviour, leading to the victim’s tearful revelation about the rape.

The parents and their daughter went to lodge a report at the Parit Raja Police Station on Dec 19, 2020.

A plan was hatched for the girl to contact Hidayat for a face-to-face meeting and the man was nabbed by her father upon showing up to meet her.

Deterrent sentence needed for ‘heinous’ crime

The three-person appellate bench chaired by judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim denied Hidayat’s final appeal to lessen the punishment, labelling the crime as “heinous”.

Speaking on behalf of fellow bench member judges Azman Abdullah and Azmi Ariffin, Zaidi said the then 27-year-old adult had taken advantage of the then Primary 6 pupil.

“The appellant had taken advantage of the young girl to satisfy his lust without any shred of guilt or sympathy to the child,” Zaidi said after the man pleaded for a lesser penalty as it was his first offence.

The judge pointed out that a deterrent sentence is necessary as the rate of sexual crimes has reached worrying levels and has been frequently reported on social media over the last several years.

“Therefore, this serious offence committed by the appellant requires a deterrent sentence commensurate with his heinous act in order to protect children from becoming victims of sexual crimes,” the judge said in the written judgment dated July 31.

The Batu Pahat Sessions Court found the man guilty of the offence under Section 376(2)(e) of the Penal Code and meted the custodial sentence and whipping on Dec 21, 2022.

The provision deals with the rape of a person under the age of 12 and provides a custodial term of at least 10 years and up to 30 years, as well as whipping.

The Muar High Court upheld the ruling on Aug 22 last year.

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