S’porean sentenced for human trafficking has appeal
1 August 2012 7:42 PM | Updated 2 August 2012 4:33 PM
A Singaporean taxi driver, sentenced to four years in jail for attempting to smuggle an 11-year-old boy into Germany to be a sex slave, saw his appeal rejected by the Malaysian courts, reported Lianhe Wanbao.
Ng Gim Teck, who was also holding on to the boy’s fake Singapore passport, was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport immigration checkpoint on 29 September last year.
The boy, Zhang Xu, is a Chinese national.
Although Ng was charged with human trafficking by Malaysian authorities, there are no records to show what his real intent was with the boy, said the Chinese daily.
However, the Deputy Public Prosecutor said such cases usually involved the element of sex.
The man was originally sentenced to six months in jail and fined RM20,000 (about $8,000) but the prosecution appealed for a heavier sentence.
On 11 November last year, the high court maintained the fine but increased the jail term from six months to four years.
Ng paid the fine but made an appeal against the lengthened jail sentence.
His appeal was rejected on 30 July, reported the Chinese daily.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan pointed out that this would be the third year where Malaysia had been placed in the ‘Tier 2 Watch List’ in the Annual Trafficking-In-Persons Report.
She said: “We are seen by the Western world as not being serious in combatting this matter at hand. Therefore, it is our contention that the high court enhancing the imprisonment period is one way of showing to the world how serious we are in curbing this matter,” reported Lianhe Wanbao.
In his mitigation, Ng said he had a sick mother who needs to be taken care of and asked for a lighter sentence.
However, the Chinese daily said the Deputy Public Prosecutor reiterated that Ng had committed a very serious crime.
