JOHOR BARU: The main suspect in the recent kidnapping case of a six-year-old girl arrived at the Johor Baru Court Complex today to face charges.
The 31-year-old man dressed in a black T-shirt and blue denim shorts was escorted by police officers in handcuffs as he arrived at 8am.
He is expected to face 15 charges, with eight to be read at the Sessions court in Johor Baru and the remaining seven at the Kulai magistrate's court later, today.
Johor police chief Commissioner M Kumar had confirmed that the suspect would be charged today, following directives from the deputy public prosecutor's office based on two investigation papers.
The charges against the suspect include one under Section 363 of the Penal Code for kidnapping a child from lawful guardianship and another under Section 346 of the Penal Code for wrongful confinement.
Additionally, he faces seven counts under Section 292 of the Penal Code for possession of obscene materials.
Further charges include four under Section 8(b) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for obtaining, collecting, or soliciting child sexual abuse material, one charge under Section 10 of the same act for possession of child sexual abuse material, and one count under Section 15(a)(ii) of the same act.
This suspect is the fifth person arrested in connection with the girl's kidnapping, following the arrest of four other suspects on July 22 and 23.
The fifth suspect was detained at 4.45am on July 23 at a budget hotel in Batang Kali, Selangor, where police rescued the abducted girl.
Last Sunday, the suspect was rearrested after various sex toys, adult pornographic materials, and child sexual abuse materials were discovered at his residence in Kulai.
He was remanded for six days until this Saturday.
Initially, the suspect was remanded for a total of 13 days to facilitate the kidnapping investigations under Section 365 of the Penal Code and Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
The other four suspects, aged between 28 and 55, were remanded for four days until July 26 before they were released on police bail.