Malay court orders caning of Singapore model for having beer

Kuantan (Malaysia), July 21 (ANI): A religious court in Malaysia has sentenced a Singaporean Muslim model to six strokes of the cane after she drank beer at a nightclub.

The 32-year-old part-time model from Singapore was charged with having a beer at a nightclub last year and a Shariah High Court ordered that she should receive six strokes of the rotan.

Kartika Sari Sewi Shu-karno, who pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol in public when she made her first court appearance in December, was also fined 1730 dollars.

The model, who wore a blue baju kurung and black headscarf, kept her head down and was silent as Judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Yunus read out the sentence.

He said the accused could face a three-year jail term if she could not pay the fine while federal prison authorities would carry out the rotan, the New Strait Times reported.

The judge said the sentence was being nhanded out under Section 136 of the Pahang Islamic and Malay Traditional Practices Enactment 1982 (Amendment 1987).

"The court reached the judgment after the accused pleaded guilty. We feel the sentence is fair after going through the prosecution's argument and since the rotan is provided for in the law. The rotan is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims."

Kartika committed the offence at a hotel night club in Cherating and was arrested during a raid by a team from the state religious department at 1.20 a.m. on July 12, 2007.

Her lawyer Mohd Zuki Che Muhamad Ghani said he would file an application for a stay of execution pending an appeal.

This is the second time that the Shariah Court here has imposed whipping on a female. The first was on a waitress and a man who were caught together with Kartika during the same operation in Cherating. (ANI)