KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) should not have charged a 60-year-old Sibu man with statutory rape if they could not prove it in court, a lawyer said today when defending the Court of Appeal’s acquittal of the man.

Civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan said the burden of proof lies with the prosecution, and that the court had a responsibility to acquit the accused if there is even one shred of reasonable doubt raised in the case.

“The prosecution should have assessed the evidence before proffering charges, and they should have been able to see that there is not enough evidence to charge the accused with rape since the elements of rape cannot be proven without evidence,” Syahredzan told Malay Mail Online.

Syahredzan suggested that instead of statutory rape, the prosecution could have charged the accused, Bunya Jalong, for sexual abuse of a minor, which might make him liable for a fine not exceeding RM20,000, or 10 years’ jail, or both under the Child Act 2001 if convicted.

“It might not be a rape charge per se, but if it means the prosecution can successfully secure a conviction, then why not?” added Syahredzan.

Yesterday, senior lawyer George Lo had also suggested that Bunya be given a new charge for sexually abusing the 15-year-old girl.

“There is a well enshrined and jealously guarded principle of our criminal justice system that places the burden of proof on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt a charge against an accused,” said Syahredzan.

“Remember the Blackstone formulation: ‘It is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer’,” he added, referring to the criminal law principle written by English jurist William Blackstone in the 18th century.

Last week, a three-member Court of Appeal panel presiding in Kuching released Bunya of four charges of rape allegedly committed in 2011, ruling that it was unsafe to convict Bunya of the charges.

His charge sheet claimed that he had raped a 15-year-old girl between May and August that year, leading to the victim becoming pregnant, and later giving birth in the Sibu Hospital on February 5, 2012.

During the trial, however, it was alleged that the man inserted his semen-smeared finger into the vagina of the girl, which according to the law, does not constitute rape.

A DNA test confirmed that Bunya is the biological father of the child, but Bunya’s lawyer Augustine Liom insisted today that the girl had “demonstrably lied” and accused her of fabricating claims of sexual intercourse with his client.

The AGC has said it will not seek a review of the recent decision to acquit Bunya.

Deputy Solicitor-General (I) Datuk Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah said in a report by English daily The Star that the case has run its course ending at the appellate court, hence “there is no further appeal”.

Bunya’s acquittal sparked outrage among lawyers and politicians, with some calling for harsher laws to deter acts of statutory rape.