PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian child psychiatrist has been sentenced to eight and a half years jail by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for grooming and sexually abusing a teenage girl in Ireland.
According to The Irish Times, Amirul Arif Bin Mohd Yunos pleaded guilty to six counts of engaging in a sexual act with a child under 17, one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one of meeting a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The 38-year-old was working in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) centre in Clonskeagh, Dublin during the time of the offense.
Yunos got to know the victim after her parents requested him to engage with their daughter who was experiencing mental health difficulties on an ad-hoc basis.
The teen was 15-years-old when most of the incidents occurred between May and June 2023. She was 16 when the final incident occured in Sept 2023.
The girl, now 17, is experiencing significant and ongoing mental distress, the court was informed.
The abuse reportedly began with inappropriate touching before it escalated to other sexual acts. The offences took place at a number of locations including a car, his home, her home and his workplace.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the girl said the abuse has left her with “painful and grave trauma” and had an “agonising” impact on her emotionally and psychologically.
Judge Orla Crowe initially set a sentence of 12 years, but the sentence was then reduced to eight and a half years, backdated to when he went into custody.
She also added that the court had reviewed testimonials, a letter of apology from Yunos and a psychological report submitted on behalf of Yunos.
According to Dublin People, Yunos has also committed to return to Malaysia upon his release from custody.
The court at an earlier hearing heard Yunos came to Ireland in 2006 from Malaysia and studied medicine in Ireland.
After he qualified in 2013, he worked at a number of hospitals including Tralee and Cork before training in psychiatry.
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