Elderly man sentenced for sexually assaulting neighbour’s granddaughter and sent to jail.

Elderly Man Sentenced to Jail for Sexual Assault on Neighbour’s Granddaughter

PUTRAJAYA: An elderly man was sent to jail for a year for sexually assaulting his neighbour’s five-year-old granddaughter four years ago. The Court of Appeal’s three-member panel comprising Justices Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, M. Gunalan and S.M. Komathy Suppiah decided to reinstate the Kangar Sessions Court decision which found Harun Dahman guilty of the offence.

In addition to the one-year jail sentence, the 78-year-old former rubber tapper will also receive one stroke of the cane and be placed under police supervision for two years after his release from prison. The court ordered Harun to begin his sentence on July 25.

Justice Vazeer, delivering the court’s decision, stated that the prosecution’s appeal had merits. He set aside the decision of the Kangar High Court, ruling that the High Court judge failed to apply the correct principles when overturning the Sessions Court’s decision. “We are of the view that the High Court judge erred when he interfered with the decision and findings of fact made by the Sessions Court judge who had heard the evidence given by witnesses, particularly the victim and the appellant (Harun),” he said, emphasizing that the Sessions Court’s decision and findings of fact were not plainly wrong.

Harun was charged under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for sexually assaulting the girl in a house in Arau district, Perlis, at 6.30pm on Feb 15, 2019. Sessions Court judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamad found him guilty on Nov 6, 2020, and sentenced him to a year’s jail, along with one stroke of the cane and two years of police supervision after his release. However, High Court judge Justice Arik Sanusi Yeop Johari overturned the decision and acquitted Harun on Feb 17 the following year, leading to the prosecution’s appeal to the Court of Appeal.

During the case, a neighbour witnessed Harun entering his house with the girl and subsequently closing the door. Deputy public prosecutor Tetralina Ahmed Fauzi represented the prosecution while lawyer Norharniza Rusli represented Harun.