Muhammad Rizalman bin Ismail, 39, was a military attaché at Malaysia’s Wellington embassy with a military rank of warrant officer. Rizalman and his family – wife, a former student at College of Nursing in Kuala Lumpur, a toddler and two primary students – returned to Malaysia on May 22, 2014 at 1.15pm by Malaysian Airlines flight MH130.

 

But he was no ordinary diplomat under the heavily tainted Najib Razak administration. Rizalman’s return to Malaysia had thereafter exploded into a mini scandal not because he was allegedly trying to rape a Kiwi (nope, not the fruit), but because Foreign Minister Anifah Aman had lied through his teeth in his attempt to protect the diplomat.

 

Today, Rizalman, who was initially charged with indecent assault, assault with intent to commit sexual violation and burglary by remaining in a building, pleaded guilty to the indecent assault on a New Zealand woman, 22-year-old Ms. Tania Billingsley. Indecent assault carries a maximum jail term of 7 years in New Zealand.

 

Flashback – during a press conference called by Mr. Anifah Aman in the wake of rape accusation in July 2014 by Rizalman, the foreign minister told all and sundry that Malaysia was willing to waive the diplomat’s immunity but decided to take up New Zealand’s “alternative” offer to invoke diplomatic immunity and bring the diplomat back home.

Turns out – Mr. Anifah lied about the offer when the New Zealand Government retaliated by shaming Najib administration with the disclosure of official documents offering the opposite side of the story. New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had actually wrote to the Malaysian High Commission in Wellington seeking to “waive diplomatic immunity” on Rizalman.

 

However, the Malaysian High Commission replied that not only they refused to waive the immunity requested, but also (has the cheek to) sought to “seal the police file” on the case and “withdraw all charges” – obviously trying to sweep the case under the carpet. Malaysian authorities had also decided to repatriate their diplomat back home as soon as possible.

To cover the embarrassing rape scandal, Najib administration had thrown in a sweetener – that the Malaysian government will ensure Rizalman does not return to New Zealand in the future, if the Kiwi authorities agreed to the suggested proposal. Due to public pressure, Rizalman eventually extradited to New Zealand on Oct 25, 2014, five months after he “fled” for home.

 

So, what had Rizalman done during his pleasure-seeking adventure while wearing his diplomatic immunity privilege in New Zealand? As revealed in a New Zealand High Court, at about 6.30pm on Friday May 9, 2014, Ms Billingsley had been home alone watching a movie on her laptop in her bedroom when Malaysian diplomat Rizalman broke in to her Brooklyn flat.

Rizalman took off his pants and underwear before opening the unlocked front door. Inside the house’s kitchen, he took off his jacket and wearing only a shirt, pushed open the bedroom door, saying “Can I come in?” Ms Billingsley looked up to see Rizalman naked from the waist down and began screaming at him to leave.

 

The Malaysian diplomat didn’t leave but instead grabbed her by the shoulders with both hands and struggled with her until she managed to push him into the living room, then out of the flat before locking him out. Billingsley had bruises and marks on her arms and suffered considerable emotional trauma from the incident.

She locked herself in the bathroom and called police.  A flatmate’s boyfriend arrived home and challenged Rizalman, who was still outside the front door. Rizalman began walking away but was stopped down the road by police. He told police they had been at the cinema earlier in the day and Ms Billingsley had invited him back to her home, but she had become angry with him for eating her food.

 

Rizalman was subsequently arrested and charged at the time but returned to Malaysia less than two weeks later under diplomatic immunity protection. Defence counsel Donald Stevens QC repeated in the court that Rizalman told police the pair had been to the cinema together that day, but the court did not hear whether Billingsley confirmed this.

It’s unknown if there were secret deals made between both governments after the original three charges were dropped in exchange for a lesser serious indecent assault charge (which carries a maximum jail term of 7 years). The assaults with Intent to Commit Rape and Burglary charges (both dropped) are punishable by a period of 10 years imprisonment under the Crimes Act 1961.

 

An issue to be explored in the court was Ms Billingsley’s statement that said Rizalman had tried to reach for her throat. The other issue was over why Rizalman went into the flat, whether there was any sexual intent and over his mental health. As expected, Rizalman’s lawyer argues that his client’s act was not sexually motivated and but rather circumstances including mental illness.

Crown prosecutor Grant Burston Burston said experts would be called to dispute Rizalman’s argument that he was mentally unwell, saying his behaviour was more consistent with “cannabis use and anxiety”. Interestingly, Rizalman seems to be not fluency in English when a Malay interpreter helped him in the New Zealand court.

 

The conventional wisdom in diplomatic world says a military attaché is normally a spy. Therefore, what was a Malaysian spy who doesn’t understand English but smoke grass doing at Malaysia’s Wellington embassy? Obviously, Rizalman wasn’t insane, let alone a drug addict or a flasher but a sex maniac who thought he could rape and get away with diplomatic immunity, but instead caught with his pants down.

Still, Ms Billingsley should not rejoice prematurely with Rizalman’s guilty admission because according to Judge David Collins, if a home detention sentence is to be imposed, which is a possibility, the Malaysian diplomat may be allowed to serve the sentence at the Malaysian embassy. That’s right – Rizalman may not go to prison after all.

 

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November 30th, 2015 by financetwitter

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