Penang police have set out the timeline of a child sexual assault case, saying the man accused of assaulting his 11-year-old daughter was already in custody when the girl was handed over to her mother, the New Straits Times reported.
Police chief Datuk Dennis Lim Kwang Keng said in a statement carried by Bernama that the girl’s school principal lodged a report with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Southwest district police headquarters at 11.15am on 16 October.
The report concerned allegations that the girl had been sexually assaulted by her biological father. Police arrested the man at about 5.30pm the same day and remanded him until 24 October.
Lim said the girl was placed under her paternal grandmother’s temporary care on 16 October because her biological mother was in Singapore at the time.
She was referred to the One Stop Crisis Centre at Penang Hospital on 17 October and warded in the paediatric ward until 21 October. The centre is a hospital unit that handles assault and abuse cases.
On 21 October, the Southwest district Social Welfare Department handed the girl to her biological mother. That was three days before the man’s remand order ended.
The suspect was charged at the Balik Pulau court on 24 October under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, read together with Section 16 of the same Act. Section 14(a) covers physical sexual assault on a child and carries up to 20 years in jail and whipping. Section 16 adds up to five years and at least two strokes where the offender is in a relationship of trust with the child, a category that includes parents.
Lim said the case is still being tried, with the next mention set for 11 November 2026.
The statement followed questions from Berapit assemblyman Heng Lee Lee, who asked why the girl was allowed to return to an environment where the alleged offender resided instead of being placed under immediate state protection.
Heng described the case as a breakdown in systemic safeguards, citing what she said were coordination failures among the police, hospitals and the Welfare Department. She urged the Social Welfare Department to be more compassionate, flexible and responsive with vulnerable children, and called for closer coordination among welfare officers, medical personnel and police.
Lim advised the public not to speculate or spread unverified information that could cause misunderstanding about the case.
The police statement did not say where the girl is living now, or whether her placement has been reviewed since the handover.
