An 85-year-old man was fined RM4,000 by the Magistrate’s Court in George Town after pleading guilty to using criminal force against a 16-year-old girl with the intention of outraging her modesty. Yong Lip Fook entered the plea on 24 September, The Star reported.
The charge stated that the offence was committed at about 4pm on 17 September in a lift at the Wayton Flats in Paya Terubong, Air Itam, in the North East district. It was read to Yong in Mandarin through an interpreter before magistrate Nadratun Naim Mohd Saidi, and the girl is not identified in the court records, NST said.
Yong was charged under Section 354 of the Penal Code, which covers any person who assaults another, or uses criminal force, intending to outrage that person’s modesty, or knowing that the act is likely to do so. The offence carries a maximum jail term of 10 years, a fine, whipping, or any two of those punishments upon conviction.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Danial Amir Saad, with FMT noting that lawyer Sharmila Shanthini Mogan represented Yong in court. Ahmad Danial urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence, while Sharmila, in mitigation, said Yong was married, unemployed and supported by his son.
She told the court that Yong had no previous criminal record, that he suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure and a heart condition, and that he had cooperated with the authorities by attending court. Sharmila also said her client had pledged not to repeat the offence. The magistrate imposed the RM4,000 fine with an eight-month default prison term, and his son paid it in full the same day. The case had been reported earlier by Harian Metro.
Fines are among the punishments Section 354 allows, alongside imprisonment and whipping. Sinar Harian carried a comparable case in September 2025, when a 63-year-old man was fined RM2,500 by the Magistrate’s Court in Parit, Perak, after pleading guilty under the same section to pinching a woman’s cheek at a grocery shop, with a six-month default term. Both cases ended in fines rather than prison terms.
Both sides made their submissions on sentence on Thursday, and the court delivered its decision the same day. The girl was 16 at the time of the incident, and Yong has since paid the fine in full through his son.
