PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has affirmed a 15-year jail sentence and four strokes of the rotan on a prisoner who sodomised his cellmate six years ago.
Justice Azmi Ariffin said sexual crimes were despicable and humiliating to the victim and the court must impose a heavy sentence in such cases.
He said the victim's purity and dignity could never be recovered and added the incident that took place in a prison cell in 2018 would be too hard to erase from one's memory.
"Berat mata memandang, berat lagi bahu memikul (It is hard for the eyes to see, harder still for the shoulders carrying the load).
"It is our hope that a heavy sentence by the court could curb uncontrolled sexual desires of individuals like this from continuing on a daily basis," he said in a 12-page judgment uploaded on the judiciary website recently.
The decision was regarding an appeal by S. Kalidas who was convicted of sodomising his then 21-year-old cellmate.
The judge also noted that the unnatural sex act took place in a prison cell under strict supervision and regulations.
"It is bizarre that the accused still managed to ‘menangguk di air yang keruh’ (take advantage of the situation) and seized the opportunity to satisfy his lust with his cellmate,” Justice Azmi said.
He added that the incident would have brought a bad image to the prison authority, saying that it is working hard to maintain the security and welfare of the inmates.
In the dismissal, the judge said there was no need for appellate intervention as there was no misdirection by the lower courts.
Other judges on the panel were Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Azman Abdullah.
On Oct 12, 2018, Kalidas committed the offence against the victim at their cell room in the Sungai Buloh prison.
He threatened the victim not to tell anyone what had happened.
The victim, however, confided in another inmate. Still shaken, the victim later told a prison officer and requested a room change.
Following this, a medical examination showed that the accused had committed the crime on the victim.
A total of 14 prosecution witnesses took the stand during the trial while Kalidas was the sole defence witness.
Kalidas was convicted by the Shah Alam Sessions Court on Aug 5, 2021.
He appealed against his conviction and sentence but it was dismissed by the Shah Alam High Court on July 25, 2022 and later filed an appeal against only his sentence at the Court of Appeal.
Lawyer Ameerul Aizat Noor Haslan represented the accused while Deputy Public Prosecutor Solehah Noratikah Ismail appeared for the prosecution.
