KUALA LUMPUR: A child psychiatrist in Dublin who is believed to be a Malaysian was jailed eight and a half years for grooming and sexually abusing a teenage girl there.
Amirul Arif Mohd Yunos, 38, was ordered to serve his sentence from the date of his arrest 14 months ago.
The 38-year-old, worked at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services centre in Clonskeagh, Dublin, at the time of the offences, the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard, according to the Irish Times.
The paper reported that the victim was not formally a patient of Amirul Arif, but h was known by her parents who had asked him to engage her on an ad hoc basis as she was said to have been experiencing mental health difficulties.
The abuse started when she was 15 and ended when she was 16, with the last incident occurring in September last year.
Amirul Arif had pleaded guilty to six counts of engaging in a sexual act with a child under 17, one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one of meeting a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The court heard that the victim, who is now 17, is experiencing significant and ongoing mental distress.
The court also heard that the abuse began with inappropriate touching before escalating to include oral sex and penetration, with the offences occuring in several locations, including a car, Amirul Arif's home, the victim's home and the accused's workplace.
In her victim impact statement read by the prosecution, the girl said she has been left with "painful and grave trauma" and blamed herself for what happened as she "deserved it".
She also said she would "forever carry doubt" towards the intentions of people who wanted to help her.
Presiding judge Orla Crowe said the seriousness of the matter, as highlighted by the victim impact statement, warranted a "significant custodial sentence".