KOTA KINABALU: A man has been sentenced to 16 years in jail and five strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court. He was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault against his niece.
The verdict was delivered by Sessions Court judge Elsie Primus during the sentencing on Friday (July 28).
The accused, a 49-year-old man from Melaka who worked as a part-time runner, was ordered to enter his defence on Feb 3 after the court determined that the prosecution had provided enough evidence to establish a prima facie case against him.
For the first count, the accused was sentenced to seven years in jail and two whippings for sexually assaulting his 14-year-old niece, who is now 18. The offence was committed in a store of a house located in a village in Manggatal near here at the end of 2019.
In addition, the accused was sentenced to another nine years in jail and three whippings for committing a similar offence against the same girl at another house in Manggatal.
The court ordered that the accused, who had been granted bail pending the cases’ disposal, would begin serving his custodial sentence starting from the date of conviction, July 28. The jail sentences were also to be served consecutively.
Furthermore, the court mandated that the accused undergo rehabilitative counseling during his time in prison, in accordance with Section 26 of the Sexual Offences Against Child Act 2017. Upon completing his sentences, the man would be placed under police supervision for the following three years.
During mitigation, the accused’s counsel, Sylvester Kuan, appealed for leniency, highlighting that his client had two children and was the family’s breadwinner. Kuan also emphasized that the accused had cooperated throughout the case and had no prior convictions.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution presented seven witnesses, while the defense called four witnesses to testify. The trial was conducted by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Mas Izzaty Lokman.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
