Teenage Mother
(IN PHOTO) An unnamed teenager holds her son at the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women in Bangkok March 7, 2013. Thailand's teenage pregnancy rate is the highest in Southeast Asia after neighbouring Laos, according to the Bureau of Reproductive Health at the Thai Public Health Ministry. In fact, even though the overall birthrate is dropping, teen births are on the rise. Out of every 1,000 live births, 54 are from teen mothers aged 15-19 - higher than in the United States and ten times higher than Singapore's teen pregnancy rate. Picture taken March 7, 2013. Reuters

Incredible tales of pregnancies have hit the headlines recently, from two men fathering fraternal twins to a woman becoming pregnant after anal sex to a teen becoming a mother after she was "finger raped" by a man old enough to be her grandfather. The incident led to the conviction in 2013 of Bunya Jalong, who was 59 then.

Yahoo News reports that even if Bunya did not insert his penis in the teen victim’s vagina, he inserted a finger that was smeared with his semen that impregnated the girl. As part of his conviction on four counts of raping the victim in a hotel in Sibu in 2011, Malaysia’s Sessions Court awarded the victim RM40,000 compensation, reports The Star.

On Thursday, the 51-year-old mother of the victim sought the payment of the compensation and maintenance for the baby. The victim bore a son from the “finger rape.” DNA test confirmed that , now 61, is the father of the child, now three years old. The victim is now 18 and still studying.

While Malaysia’s High Court rejected Bunya’s appeal versus his conviction, the Court of Appeal reversed on May 7 the High Court’s decision. The reason was that the country’s definition of rape covers only penetration using the penis, not other body parts.

Despite the DNA evidence, the court apparently believed in a doctor’s testimony that it is impossible for a woman to become pregnant if a finger with semen was placed inside her vagina. Bunya claimed that the girl, then 15, wanted sexual intercourse but they could not because her vagina was too small. Besides inserting his fingers inside her vagina, Bunya said the teen also touched his semen and placed her fingers inside her private part.

Even the judges who overturned the ruling agree that the outdated Penal Code on non-consensual sex must be amended. The judges explained, “We did not think it appropriate to consider convicting the appellant on lesser charges – such as indecent assault – lest it lends the notion that the courts condone such lesser punishment, and detracts from the urgency of introducing necessary legislation,” Malaysia Chronicle quotes Judges Datuk Abdul Wahad Patail, Datuk Linton Albert and Datuk Seri Zakaria Sam.

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com

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