PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal, which enhanced the jail term and whipping of a chicken rice seller for raping his Indonesian maid, said the punishment was to send a strong message to potential offenders.

Judge Datuk Suriyadi Halim Omar said the sexual violation by Seow Eng Aik against his 19-year-old maid was sadistic.

"As an employer, you were supposed to protect your employee who came here to earn a living. Instead you were aided by your wife to satisfy your lust," he said in allowing the public prosecutor's appeal against the High Court's sentence.

Suriyadi said the victim, from Blora, Semarang, Indonesia, was put in a state of terror.

"I hope this sentence will act as retribution and deterrence. It must send a strong message to would-be offenders against maids," said Suriyadi of the unanimous ruling.
Sitting within him were Datuk Wan Adnan Muhammad and Datuk Ahmad Maarop.

The Court of Appeal sentenced Seow, now 41, to 16 years' jail and six strokes on each of two counts of rape, the sentences to run concurrently.

On the third count, Seow was sentenced to another 16 years' jail and six strokes of the rotan, to run consecutively with the other two sentences.

This means Seow will serve a total of 32 years and 18 strokes. The bench ordered the sentence to commence from the date of his conviction by the Sessions Court on June 27, 2005.

However, the court maintained the six-year jail term on Seow's wife, Tan Seok Hoon, who abetted him to rape the girl on the second count.

Tan, now 36, was ordered to begin sentence from yesterday as she was on RM10,000 bail.

The offences were committed at Block 211-1-2, Tingkat Paya Terubong 33, in early April 2002.

Previously, Sessions judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail had sentenced Seow to 12 years' jail and three strokes of the rotan on each charge but she ordered it to run concurrently -- a total of 12 years' jail and 9 strokes -- while Tan was sentenced to six years' jail.

The High Court on March 31, 2006, enhanced the jail term of Seow to 16 years and three strokes of the rotan on each count, the jail terms to run concurrently.

This meant he would to serve 16 years' jail and receive nine strokes.

The couple then appealed against conviction and sentence while the public prosecutor appealed against sentence.

Deputy public prosecutor V. Shoba submitted yesterday that Seow raped the girl in the living room and in a bedroom.

"Only on the second occasion did his wife abet him. She held the victim down when Seow raped her and she wiped chilly paste on the victim's face and private parts," she said.

Shoba said the victim ran away from the couple sometime in August 2002 and sought shelter from a housewife in Penang.