Myanmar man, daughter jailed for trafficking two children

KUALA LUMPUR: A Myanmar man and his daughter were jailed five and three years, respectively, by the Ampang sessions court here today after they were found guilty on two charges of trafficking two Myanmar children for exploitation.
Judge Azrul Darus meted the sentence to Yunus Bai, 50 and his 17-year-old daughter after both accused, who were not represented, failed to raise reasonable doubts at the end of the trial.

The court ordered Yunus to be jailed five years for each charge, while his daughter received three years for each offence. All sentences are to run concurrently from the date the two accused were arrested on Sept 26, 2016.

For the first charge, Yunus, who is unemployed, and his daughter were jointly charged with trafficking a five-year-old girl for exploitation at Pangsapuri Seri Nilam, Bandar Baru Ampang here at 1am on Sept 26, 2016.
They were also charged with trafficking a 10-year-old boy for the same purpose at the same location, time and date.

Both the accused were charged under Section 14 of the Anti-Trafficking In Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 and was read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides a maximum jail term of 20 years and the possibility of a fine.
Deputy public prosecutor Nadiah Malek Fauzie appealed for an appropriate punishment considering the increasing number of human trafficking cases in the country.
Nine witnesses were called to give their statements during the hearing which began in April this year. — Bernama