Deaf Pastor Charged With Sexual Assault In Malaysia
On Friday 18th December a Deaf South Korean pastor was charged in a Malaysian court with sexually assaulting two men in separate incidents.
On Friday 18th December a Deaf South Korean pastor was charged in a Malaysian court with sexually assaulting two men in separate incidents. His lawyer Shanmugam Ganesan told Reuters that Jee Jong Hoon, 54, who uses sign language to communicate, was charged in a court in western Penang. The alleged victims were described by the police as having speech and hearing impairments Jee was accused of hugging, kissing and groping the men, who were in their 20s, in two separate incidents in 2013 and 2017. The court has set 18th January for the charges to be re-read to Jee after his lawyer requested that the court appoint an international sign language interpreter as Jee did not understand Malaysian sign language.
If convicted, Jee could face up to 10 years in prison, a fine or both. In a statement on Thursday 17th December, Malaysian police had said six reports had been filed against a Jee for allegedly molesting five men aged between 27 and 40 who had hearing and speech impairments in incidents dating back to 2011. Jee is married with two children. He arrived in Malaysia in 1998 after being invited to conduct Bible teachings by the founder of an association for the Deaf. Earlier another religious figure, Richard Huckle from Britain died in prison last year after being convicted of targeting children in vulnerable communities while volunteering at a church in Kuala Lumpur.
