Politician to defend molest charges Nov 14

KOTA KINABALU (Nov 11): A politician, who was charged with four counts of molesting an Unduk Ngadau contestant, will enter his defence on November 14 and 15 at a Magistrate’s Court here.

Magistrate Marilyn Kelvin fixed the new defence trial dates for Phillip Among, 53, today following his revision to review a lower court’s order for him to enter his defence had been dismissed.

On September 24, a High Court here dismissed Phillip’s application to review the enter defence order made by the lower court on all the four charges.

Previously, Phillip’s defence trial was fixed on February 19, 22 and 23.

The victim in this case was allegedly molested by Phillip at the studio of a company at Asia City, inside a moving car on the way from dinner to an old office, at a staircase beside a photo studio here and inside an office at Metrotown respectively on May 19, 2021.

He was charged under Section 354 of the Penal Code for using criminal force to outrage the modesty of a person.

The indictment carries a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine or with whipping or any two of the punishments, upon conviction.

The prosecution stage commenced on April 12, 2022 and closed on September 7, 2023.

Eight witnesses were produced to testify against Phillip, who was represented by counsel Abdul Fikry Jaafar Abdullah and Azhier Farhan Arisin.

It was learnt that Phillip was a technical head for the state-level Unduk Ngadau competition when the victim was one of the contestants.

He had claimed trial to the charges on June 10, 2021.

It was reported that on October 31 Phillip was ordered by another Magistrate’s Court here to enter his defence for allegedly molesting a woman in a living room of a premises at Asia City at 11pm on April 17, 2021.