OMESTI eCOURTS Team Assists As Tech Partner In Setting Up Special Court For Sexual Crimes Against Children

OMESTI Group’s eCOURTS team worked as technology partner with Malaysia’s Court Department to help set up a new Special Court to deal with sexual crimes against children.

The Court, which features a vulnerable witness room with Court Recording & Transcription facilities linked to the courtroom, is located at the Palace of Justice, Putrajaya, and was launched just two months after ground-breaking legislation in the form of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 was passed by Parliament.

An initiative led by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and de facto Law Minister YB Dato’ Seri Azalina Othman Said, the Special Court is the first of its kind to be set up in Southeast Asia. Police statistics over a three-year period – 2014 to end 2016 – have recorded 7,869 cases of sexual crimes against children in Malaysia.

Offences covered under the new Law now include child pornography, child grooming, physical and non-physical sexual violation, people in positions of trust or authority (such as family members and teachers) who are involved in or abet the crime, and placing child witnesses under duress.

OMESTI eCOURTS COO Nurman Rummel Sanusi, said,

“This is a landmark initiative and we are proud to have been able to play our part to help get this Special Court established. Our knowledge of the court infrastructure from our involvement in the eCOURTS digital transformation project has been invaluable.”