SIBU: A teenage shop assistant has claimed that she was raped by a police corporal inside the toilet of the Sarikei police station.

When her sister lodged a report at the same station, the 19-year-old victim alleged, the suspect’s colleagues and a community leader in Sarikei tried to persuade her to drop the case.

Apparently, they pleaded with her to give the man another chance as he would be retiring in a few years.

Recounting the incident at a press conference yesterday with Lanang MP Alice Lau, the teenager said she boarded a bus from Kuching to Sibu at 10pm on Oct 28.

Her intention was to celebrate her sister’s birthday in Sibu.

“The bus arrived at the Sarikei bus terminal sometime between 4am and 5am the next morning. I got down from the bus to go to the toilet.

“When I came out from the toilet, I saw that the bus had left. My purse and handphone were still inside the bus,” the teenager said.

The girl, who wept as she told the story, spoke of how she stopped a four-wheel drive which happened to pass by then.

“I went with the man to chase after the bus but to no avail. I then used his handphone to tell my sister about the matter.”

The man told her that it was better for him to bring her to his office at the police station as it was not safe for her to stay outside at that hour.

He was not in uniform and the teenager only knew he was a policeman when they got to the station.

“When he stopped his vehicle at the gate of the police station, he started to molest me.

“He told me to go into the toilet of the police station. I did what he told me to do as I was in fear,” she said.

It was inside the toilet that the man raped her.

He then sent her back to the bus terminal and gave her RM30 for bus fare and food to Sibu.

However, she returned to the police station at 10am with her sister who had rushed to Sarikei.

“One of the men said I was lying,” the girl said, adding that she showed the policemen a photograph of the suspect, which she had sent to her sister earlier when she called her using his mobile phone.

She claimed that several policemen told her sister to drop the case.

Ten days later on Nov 8, a community leader in Sarikei called her sister, telling her that the suspect’s family was ready to pay a certain amount of money.

Fearing for their safety, the sister lodged a report at Sungai Merah police station in Sibu.

Lau said the two sisters had sought help from her.

“I have approached the Deputy Home Minister in Kuala Lumpur and he told me that the police are investigating the case,” she said.

She said that the deputy minister’s report to her showed that the suspect was a police corporal.

Sarikei OCPD DSP Awang Arfian Awang Bujang, when contacted, said the 53-year-old policeman was suspended during the investigation.

He also confirmed that the suspect would be retiring in a few years.

“The man has a good record. We are unsure why he committed the alleged offence,” he added.

They were investigating the case with the standard operating procedures of the police force, he said.