KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Immigration has barred Datin Rozita Mohamad Ali from travelling abroad, after she failed to attend a hearing to review her sentence for abusing her Indonesian domestic helper in 2016.

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali told Malay Mail that Rozita is still in the country.

“In fact, the court has made the decision to bar her from her going abroad.

“We have got the (court) order. As it is now from our record, she has not left the country,” Mustafar said.

He said that there was no similar order issued upon Rozita’s bailor, but authorities can still blacklist the bailor from travelling.

Rozita and her bailor failed to turn up at the High Court in Shah Alam yesterday for her sentencing review.

Selangor prosecution head Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad said he and his team went to two homes listed to Rozita, 44, in Petaling Jaya, Selangor and Melaka, and found both vacant.

He told the court that his team had also visited the bailor’s home at the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) base in Subang twice, but could not locate him.

He also expressed confidence that the housewife and her bailor, whose name was not revealed, could be found, saying that they were still in Kuala Lumpur.

On March 15, the Sessions Court in Petaling Jaya ordered Rozita to be placed on a good behaviour bond for five years with surety of RM20,000.

She pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 326 of the Penal Code of causing grievous hurt to an Indonesian domestic worker.

Rozita was accused of abusing Suyanti Sutrinso, then 19, with a kitchen knife, a steel mop, a clothes hanger and an umbrella in December 2016.

The woman reportedly suffered injuries to her head, hands, legs and internal organs.

Rozita could have received to 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine and whipped.

The non-custodial sentence drew flak from the public and rights groups, while Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh described the bond as illegal.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Apandi Ali then told Malay Mail that his office had filed a notice of appeal against the Sessions Court’s decision.