Teen model claims she was raped during boat trip - Malaysiakini

Indonesian teen model Manohara Odelia Pinot, 17, related the abuse that she alleges she suffered at the hands of her husband, Kelantan prince Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra, including 'being raped' during a boat ride from Singapore to Lombok, an island near Bali, Indonesia.

MCPX

Her husband's lawyer, Haaziq Pillay, declined to comment on the allegations, saying that Muhammad Fakhry had filed a report with the Malaysian police on the matter.

When did the abuse start?

Manohara: I don't remember when. But it was not long before the wedding. I got raped, basically. I didn't tell anyone.

I didn't tell my mom. Tengku himself acted like it didn't happen. I was just in denial. I went numb. I didn't want to believe it.

We were cruising from Singapore to Lombok, to Bali. In the boat, he just grabbed me. At the time I was just in the room, sitting there to wait for my mom. Basically, it just happened. But after that, I just kind of shut down. I didn't know what to think about myself. Basically, I was just in denial about the whole thing.

If he raped you before you went to Malaysia, why did you accept his invitation?

Because, (a) I just didn't want to believe, so I just tried to completely block that out, and (b) after that he was really nice to me. He was extremely sweet and gentlemanly. I didn't know what happened, actually.

Things got worse after you married him?

I know that March was the burn - I had an iron burn on my neck. And a cigar burn on my forehead. It was just random, he just came by with a cigar. I was ironing, and then he just took the thing. The iron came first. I took pictures of the scars with my BlackBerry. (photos below)

Between March and April, the mental and sexual abuse was constantly there. I was held there against my will.

They kept injecting me with several different medications to [make me] gain weight, to make me fall asleep and some to paralyse me.

It was emotionally and mentally exhausting to endure that.

When the whole razor [abuse] started, when things started to get real rough, that was in April. He took an eyebrow razor and cut me around my chest area.

The hardest thing about that was I was aware of it, I could feel it, but I couldn't move or scream. I don't know what he had given me.

I could see, hear him, smell him, feel him. I could feel the cuts on my body. It hurt. The physical pain, I didn't mind too much. Just knowing that you have no control over anything and can't do anything about it was just...

It happened three times. The first thing he marked on me was just a small X on my chest area. And the worst part about it is that he didn't even slash it fast or anything. [He] just took his time, slowly. He looked as calm as ever. It's like if you gave someone a paintbrush and told him to draw a flower. It took a little over 20 minutes.

Did he follow with sexual abuse?

Yes. It usually followed or happened beforehand.

Are you traumatised?

No, not traumatised. He's taken so much from my life in the past, I'm not going to let him to take away my future. Someone once said, "Forgiving is freeing yourself."

I believe that.

Published with permission from Jakarta Globe.