PETALING JAYA: A Vietnamese woman who was convicted of trafficking another woman for the purpose of exploitation cried openly while being led to the court lock-up after she was jailed seven years.
Fruit seller Nguyen Thi Mai, 26, was found guilty by a Sessions Court here for trafficking Nguyen Thi Bich Tien, 25, by threatening to injure her.
Thi Mai initially insisted on staying in the court lock-up and refused to be taken to the main basement lock-up so that she could be transported to Kajang prison.
Judge Rozina Ayob convicted her of the offence committed at Impian Heights Apartment in Puchong Jaya between 1am on May 24 last year and 12.30am on May 26.
The judge also sentenced her to eight months jail for wrongfully confining the victim at the same apartment between 2.05am on May 24 and 1am on May 26.
The judge, however, ordered the jail terms to run concurrently from Feb 9 last year – the date she was released on bail.
In sentencing her, the judge said she hoped that the accused would learn her lesson and not repeat the offence. According to the evidence produced during the trial, the victim was promised a job in Malaysia but was not told the nature of the work.
The victim told the court that the accused wanted her to work as a prostitute and threatened to sell her in Thailand if she refused.
To escape, the victim used a rope to scale down from the the apartment’s ninth floor balcony to the eighth floor.
A doctor who saw her alerted a security guard who immediately informed the police.
DPP Shah Rizal Abdul Manan applied for a deterrent sentence saying that human trafficking cases had become rampant.
“The United Nations estimates that around four million persons are trafficked each year in the world. Malaysia views such cases very seriously,” he added.
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