Kota Kinabalu: A 46-year-old civil servant was freed of a charge of asking a woman to perform oral sex on him, without his defence being called.
Sessions Court Judge Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim discharged and acquitted Supian Buang from the charge, after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against him.
Supian was accused of committing the offence against the 22-year-old woman at 3pm in November 2022 at an office of a government department, here.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});The offence, under Section 377C of the Penal Code, carries a jail term of up to 20 years, and whipping, on conviction.
Supian pleaded not guilty and claimed for trial to the charge against him last year.
About three witnesses had testified during the prosecution stage and closed its case on Feb 24 this year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugenie Meredith Gilbert conducted the prosecution while Supian was represented by counsel Luke Ressa Balang.