A 23-year-old British woman who was deported from Malaysia on Saturday with three other tourists after spending three days in jail for posing partially naked on a sacred mountain said she was looking forward to getting back to Britain.
“I’m looking forward to going home,” a smiling Eleanor Hawkins told reporters at the business class lounge in Kuala Lumpur international airport, where she was accompanied by a British consular official and airport security guards. She refused to comment further. She had arrived from the city of Kota Kinabalu, where she was detained, and will continue to the UK.
The four, including two Canadian siblings and a Dutch man, were found guilty of an “obscene act” for posing nude at the summit of Mount Kinabalu, which indigenous people believe holds a spirit. Photos of the group, the men in boxer shorts and the women with their torso uncovered, were posted on social media and caused a national uproar.
They were fined 5,000 Malaysian ringgit (£860) and sentenced to three days in jail from the time of their arrest, which meant they were free to go on the same day. Hawkin’s lawyer said the group were ignorant of local customs and stripped off as a challenge to each other at the summit, where the temperature was around 0C.
After her conviction, Hawkins’s father Timothy said his daughter’s sentence was appropriate and fair.
Indigenous people on the island believe the mountain holds the spirit of their ancestors, and some have suggested the disrespectful act caused an earthquake that killed 18 people days later.
Only five of the 10 foreigners accused of stripping on the mountain were arrested. Hawkins was detained when she tried to board a flight to leave the country.
Malaysian police say they have informed border guards to look out for the other five on the offence of public indecency.
