Nude tourists freed, to be deported from Malaysia

The father of a British backpacker imprisoned in Malaysia for three days for posing topless on a sacred mountain has described the sentence as "appropriate and fair for the offence committed".
Eleanor Hawkins, a 23-year-old aeronautical engineering graduate, was expected to fly home to the UK after she was spared the maximum three-month sentence on Friday by Judge Dean Wayne Daly, presiding over the court in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo.
He released her and three other Westerners after they pleaded guilty to indecency, given that they had already been detained for three days. He also ordered that they pay a 5,000 ringgit (NZ$1910) fine.

FACEBOOK/Kinabalu Park

A photo posted to the Kinabalu Park Facebook page thought to show the 10 tourists who posed naked at Mt Kinabalu.

"I am grateful that the Malaysian authorities reached this decision," said her father Tim Hawkins, who owns an engineering company in Derbyshire.

"Eleanor knows what she did was wrong and disrespectful and she is deeply sorry for any offence she has caused to the Malaysian people."

Instagram

Eleanor Hawkins in a selfie on Instagram.

However, he expressed concern over videos that seemed to show her being "treated pretty badly" as she was escorted in and out of court.
While it was thought Hawkins would be immediately free to leave, she was told she would have to spend a fourth night in a cell, after court officials failed to produce the correct paperwork in time to secure her release.
Rooms reserved in a five-star hotel for Miss Hawkins, 23-year-old Dutchman Dylan Snel and Canadian siblings Lindsey and Danielle Petersen, aged 22 and 23, were unused. Instead, the four were expected to leave Malaysia today.
The two men were said to have spent last night in a death row cell because the usual holding cells were full.

               

"The boys were terrified when they knew they would spend the night on death row," a prison source said. "At first we thought the girls would spend the night in the death-row cells too, but then they found space in a normal cell.
"The girls burst into tears when we told them and were very upset. They were asking why they could not be freed, seeing as the lawyer had already handed over the fine for all of them."
Hawkins, who began backpacking in the Far East this year after completing her master's degree at Southampton University in 2014, shared her cell with Canadian Danielle Petersen, 22, in a bid to shield them from other prisoners.
In January, she set off around South East Asia, taking in Laos and Vietnam before arriving in Malaysia. On May 30, she joined 27 other hikers to tackle 13,435ft Mount Kinabalu.
A magnitude-5.9 earthquake sent rocks and boulders raining down on trekking routes on the mountain. The victims were nine Singaporeans, six Malaysians, a Filipino, a Chinese and a Japanese.
The quake damaged roads and buildings and also broke one of the famous twin rock formations on the mountain known as the "Donkey's Ears."
All four Westerners were arrested on Tuesday after photographs from the mountain-top stripping prank were shared widely on social media.
Joseph Pairin Kitingan, the deputy chief minister of Sabah state, blamed the tragedy on the foreigners for having shown disrespect to the mountain, believed by local tribes to be a resting place for the dead.
He said a special ritual would be conducted to appease the mountain spirits. The tourists appeared before a judge on Wednesday, and yesterday they all pleaded guilty to charges of indecency.
"It is a wake-up call to tourists not to ignore local traditions and culture," said Masidi Manjun, the state's tourism minister.
"Since they pleaded guilty and showed remorse, it is only fair that they are let off with a fine by the court."
The photographs, taken on top of Mount Kinabalu, caused widespread anger across Malaysia.
The main ethnic group in the region, the Dasun people, believe the mountain is the sacred resting place of their ancestors, and the Dasun man who made the initial complaint, Daikin Anam, a 32-year-old park ranger, told The Telegraph they were deeply offended by the photographs.
Mr Daikin went to the police in Kundasang, in Sabah, on June 2 after seeing the images.
"I feel angry," he said. "I think they're insulting the mountain spirit.
"I think they're a bunch of arrogant tourists who didn't listen to the mountain guide, they're too proud of themselves and selfish."
Judge Daly said he accepted that the tourists felt remorse. He also accepted that although Miss Hawkins was arrested at an airport "there was nothing to show Eleanor was absconding the law".
Tim Hawkins, her father, said he was anxiously awaiting her return to the family home in Draycott.
"We just want her back as soon as possible," he told The Telegraph.