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Last week, Irish news outlets reported a child sexual abuse case involving a Malaysian child psychiatrist based in Dublin by the name of Amirul Arif Bin Mohd Yunos, and one of his patients, a 15-year-old girl.
While the initial reports bore no photos of Amirul Arif, Ireland-based news media, the Irish Independent, published an article on the case yesterday (8 December) with an old photo of the accused. The photo was taken from the blog of Dr Halina Mohd Yunos, who is married to Malaysian astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha.
At press time, neither Dr Halina nor her family members have made any statements regarding the matter.
According to the facts of the case, Amirul had been grooming the teenage girl since she was 14 years old, although the girl was 15 when most of the incidents happened sometime between May and June 2023.
He was a practising child psychiatrist in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) centre in Clonskeagh, Dublin, at the time he committed the offence last year.
Amirul was sentenced to eight and a half years in jail by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court judge Orla Crowe.
He pleaded guilty to six counts of engaging in a sexual act with a child under 17, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, and one of meeting a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
READ MORE: Dublin Child Psychiatrist With Malaysian-Sounding Name Jailed For Sexual Abuse
Victim’s parents recount the horrifying case
The article published by the Irish Independent yesterday reported the entire ordeal as told by the victim’s parents.
“He would tell her her body was a ‘form of payment’ for his therapy service,” the girl’s mother was quoted saying in a separate report by the Sunday Independent.
He was also said to have threatened her, saying that if she told anyone, no one would believe her because of his position in society.
“She would ask him if it was rape, and he would say ‘No, rape is violent’, but it was violent, it was rape. She was left bleeding sometimes. She had to have medical procedures because of internal damage he did to her during rape,” her mother added.
The girl, who is now 17, had reportedly attempted suicide three times last week over the stress of her abuser’s criminal case finally coming to and end.
Her mother went straight from an emergency department to court last Tuesday (3 December after her daughter attempted to end her life the night before.
With 14 months already served, Amirul is due for release in just under five years, after which he will be deported back here to Malaysia.
The girl was never Amirul’s patient
Further in the report, it says that the girl was not a patient of Amirul, but he was known to her parents. They asked him for a recommendation for their daughter, who was suffering from mild anxiety after Covid, and he offered to give her therapy.
“I will never forget his smile when we asked for his advice. Little did we know he is an oppotunistic sadist who would abuse his position of authority,” the girl’s mother said.
The mother said she believed he is a predator and saw it as an opportunity from the beginning. She then explained to the Irish daily that the therapy was not supposed to continue further than the first meet, but Amirul contacted her daughter to arrange to see her without her and her husband’s knowledge or permission.
“She did not have a serious mental illness in the beginning, but as a consequence of what he went on to do she has developed serious severe depression, severe PTSD, anxiety flashbacks, ongoing self-harming, and suicidal ideation. All because of him,” she said.
The victim is also reported to have issues concerning her diet, as Amirul encouraged her to put on weight so her breasts and other parts of her body would become fuller.
She is also reported to have insomnia now, as she “looks lifeless” and “like a walking corpse” due to lack of food and sleep.
Her mother went on to say that her daughter was a bright and high-achieving girl.
“She was happy, loving, and caring. He took all of that away”.
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