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CYBER-SEXUAL ASSAULT: YOUNGSTER WATCH OUT YOUR PHONE
SHAH ALAM: Parents must be alert that early exposure to screen time to children makes it accessible for them to get caught up in cyber crimes.
According to Non-governmental organizations (NGO) Engender Consultancy, the number of children are gradually growing on exposure to sexual crimes due to easy access to smartphones and the internet.
Describing it as worrisome, Engender Consultancy's Gender-Based Violence Lead Consultant, Betty Yeoh said, on account of the sense of surrounding fear that the children involved, it brought them to not telling anyone. Thus, the crime continued.
Betty said children who are victims of sexual crimes have the potential to experience psychological problems.
“Children who have extensive access to smartphones and the internet cause such crimes to occur,” said Betty, who has 30 years of experience empowering women's rights.
Sexual victim sharing on Direct Messages on Instagram.
(Sources: Instagram @capricedaddycap)
“Usually, online predators will establish a ‘special relationship’ with the victims before approaching them for sex, such as by requesting phone numbers, sending pornographic messages and setting up video calls,” she said.
She also added the sex offender will provide reassuring rewards such as reinforcing fake affection, gifts and plead the chat conversations between them to kept as secret from their parents which brought the criminals to take advantage of children who are naive, show interest and have weak emotions.
“If the offender is a well-known victim, the case will gain public attention, and sexual crime becomes a trend,” she said.
She also observed that the victims of sexual crimes are likely to have psychological problems such as anxiety, fear, always being in a state of anger and violent behavior.
"Children need to learn about social norms and appropriate people to interact with. Parental monitoring is also important and the children themselves need to control themselves to prevent them from becoming victims of crime," she said.
Betty said that the public can also get information directly by accessing the Sexual Offenses Against Children Act 2017 to find out the act for certain sexual offences against children.
One of the Twitter users claimed to be a sexual victim of PU Azman.
(Sources: Twitter @kymm71)
Previously, celebrity speaker Pencetus Ummah (PU) Azman made headlines when he was accused of sexually abusing underage boys in February and July 2022.
PU Azman pleaded not guilty after the allegations were read before at the Seremban Sectional Court in Negeri Sembilan on October 12, however, the case is still being investigated.
Berita Harian also reported, the police received a report regarding the owner of the Instagram account known as Safiey Ilias, who is a cosmetics entrepreneur for wearing flashy clothes while conducting a live video session on Instagram accompanied by two minors.
The owner of the account @safieyilias94 was charged under Section 11 (1) (a) of the Sexual Offenses Against Children Act 2017, which carries a maximum prison sentence of three years and Section 15 (a) (i), which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison or a fine of RM20,000 or both if convicted.
Statistics of sexual offences against children.
(Sources: The Royal Malaysia Police)
According to The Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) statistics, 1,348 cases of sexual offences against children were recorded between January and June 2022.
A total of 106,764 IP addresses registered in Malaysia shared child pornography from 2017 to August 2022.
The crime is investigated under Section 509 of the Penal Code, and the number increased to 35 last year, with 11 police reports received between January and April of this year.
The public can also report directly to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which is an international non-governmental organization.
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