The British gap-year tourist Eleanor Hawkins has been sentenced to three days’ in prison and immediately freed in Malaysia after pleading guilty to committing obscene acts in public when she and nine others stripped for a dare on Mount Kinabalu.
A judge at a court in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah state, also fined Hawkins and three others; Canadian siblings Lindsey and Danielle Peterson and Dutchman Dylan Snel.
He sentenced them to three days in prison from the time of arrest, 9 June, which means they have already served their time.
Hawkins left the court in tears as she was told she was free to go after paying a small fine.
The judge said: “This court accepted the plea of guilty as mitigation”. He also noted “remorse” of the tourists, and accepted that although Hawkins was arrested at an airport “there was nothing to show Eleanor was absconding the law”.
Arriving handcuffed at court, the four had to battle through a throng of reporters to enter the building.
They pleaded guilty to committing obscene acts in a public place and agreed to apologise to the Malaysian people, after the stunt prompted an angry reaction in the Sabah where the mountain is regarded as sacred.
The judge decided against imposing the maximum sentence of three months in prison, after a lawyer for the four said they were ignorant of local laws and customs and were sorry for what they had done.
Diplomats from the UK, the Netherlands and Canada were in court for the hearing.
The four were among this group of backpackers who stripped on top of Mount Kinabalu.
All four were ordered by the judge to pay a fine of 5,000 Malaysian ringgit (£860) each.
Officials and tribal elders suggested the disrespectful act was linked to an earthquake that killed 18 people days later.
The charge, read out in court, was that at 6.45am on 30 May in the vicinity of Mount Kinabalu they carried out “obscene acts in a public place under 294 (a) of the penal code”.
They were also accused of “excessive noise and ignoring the advice (of their guide)”. All four avoided trial by pleading guilty.
The public prosecutor had called for a “sentence to deter others”. He said their behaviour caused “annoyance to many Malaysians” and urged the judge to “take into account public sentiment” in the sentence.
The lawyer, Ronny Cham, pleaded for leniency. “Your honour, they were ignorant of the culture, tradition and belief of the local people … including the people of Sabah and Malaysia … This is a group of a young generation … who have more freedom and liberty to express their thoughts and ideas”
He said the four “very much regret” their action and were willing to apologise in public.
Ronny said they stripped as they were “challenging one another to stand the cold of the mountain, to stand the temperature which was near zero degrees”.
He said they had suffered “shame, ridicule and humiliation to themselves, their parents and possibly even their country … They have paid a heavy price … Lost personal integrity and self esteem.”
Hawkins’ father, Tim, said he was awaiting confirmation of the verdict from the British consulate in Malaysia. When the Guardian broke the news of the sentence to him, he said: “That’s good if its true, but I’ve not had any confirmation.”
Police in Malaysia are looking for six other foreigners who appeared in the nude photographs and were wanted for public indecency, a police officer involved in the case told the Guardian on Friday.
“We think they are still in Sabah,” the officer revealed on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media. “There is a possibility they have already left the country.”
He said Hawkins and her fellow detainees did not identify the others who were with them: “They said they didn’t know their full names, only nicknames.”
Another police source said border guards had been informed and were hoping to catch the others at airports.
Culled from The Guardian UK
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