SUNGAI PETANI: Police have arrested a man who had allegedly sexually-assaulted a seven-year-old girl, as depicted in a video clip that went viral on Sunday.
The man, in his 40s, was detained at 3.10pm here today following a report lodged by the girl’s mother early Monday morning.
Kuala Muda district police chief Assistant Commissioner Saifi Abdul Hamid said the man will be produced in court tomorrow morning for a remand order.
He said since a video clip of the alleged incident went viral yesterday, police have received two reports, one of which was from the girl's mother.
Preliminary investigation showed that the man is a friend of the girl’s family.
“The man had gone to the woman’s house in Sungai Lalang at 11pm Saturday and asked her if he could take the girl out to buy some food. He brought the girl home about two hours later,” he said.
Saifi said the girl’s mother had also confronted the man after she saw a video of the incident on Facebook yesterday evening.
He allegedly told her that he was sorry before fleeing the scene.
The woman lodged a report at the Sungai Petani police station at 2.50am.
Saifi said based on the video clip, the incident took place at a funfair in Sungai Petani.
He said the girl has been taken to Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital for medical examination.
The case has been classified under Section 14(a) of Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
The video was first uploaded by Durian Media on Facebook, claiming that the incident took place at a funfair in Sungai Petani at 11.30pm on Saturday.
Social activist Syed Azmi Alhabshi had called for social media users to stop circulating the video to protect the child.