THE single mother stuck in jail for soliciting sex in Terengganu, despite raising enough money for bail, can take her case to the shariah court of appeal to amend her bail requirements or seek a review at the high court, lawyers said.

The 30-year-old woman is still in jail for failing to produce three sureties for her bail, even after obtaining a stay on her sentence. 

Shariah lawyer Boestamam Ahmad said she can take her case to the appeals court to amend her bail requirement on the number of sureties.

He said usually, two sureties would have been sufficient for bail.

But as the woman is not a Terengganu local and due to wide publicity on her plight, he said the court may have set the requirement for three sureties instead.

“Maybe because she is from Selangor and the court may fear that once she is released, she will not return to the Terengganu shariah court. Hence (it imposed) three sureties. 

“That is just my opinion because I have seen cases where the offenders fled after they were released,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The single mother was charged, under Terengganu shairah law last month, with prostitution and sentenced to six months in jail and whipping for soliciting sex.

She was reported to have offered sex for money to support herself and her 7-year-old daughter who was under the care of her sister in Klang, Selangor.

The woman’s lawyer, Che Nur Intan Nazuha Che Mohd Norudi, had earlier told The Malaysian Insight, that the woman had raised bail of RM4,500 through a crowdfunding campaign initiated by the public.

The lawyer also said that only two of her sisters had agreed to stand as sureties while one brother refused to help and another brother has not been told of the matter. 

Boestamam said the woman could look for any other individual to be her surety if the court did not set for the sureties to be of her family members. 

Meanwhile, shariah lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader said the woman can also apply to the shariah high court for a review as taking it to the court of appeal might delay her release for months.

“She can get another surety or go to the high court. The best way is to get a revision,” he said when contacted by The Malaysian Insight. 

Last month, shariah judge Rosdi sentenced her to six months in prison and six strokes of the rotan.

Following the sentencing, Farah Adilla Radin, a journalist from the New Straits Times launched the Go Get Funding campaign to help the single mother pay for her legal fees.

The woman’s case drew public concern over her treatment as a single-mother in need of money, with many questioning why the ex-husband was not paying her and the child nafkah, and why the male party in her attempted prostitution was not charged. – October 17, 2018.