PUTRAJAYA: A prisoner who sodomised his young cellmate six years ago failed to get his 15-year jail and four strokes of the rotan sentence reduced by the Court of Appeal.
Court of Appeal judge Justice Azmi Ariffin, in dismissing the appeal of S. Kalidas, said sexual crimes were despicable and humiliating to the victim.
Justice Azmi said the court must impose a heavy sentence in such cases because while the victim’s purity and dignity could never be recovered, and the incident would be too hard to erase from 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 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) and seized the opportunity to satisfy his lust with his cellmate,” Justice Azmi said, adding that the incident would have brought a bad image to the prison authority who worked hard to maintain the security and welfare of 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 Justices Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Azman Abdullah.
On Oct 12, 2018, Kalidas committed the offence against the then 21-year-old victim in their cell room at the Sungai Buloh prison.
He threatened the victim not to tell anyone what had happened.
The victim confided in another inmate and later told a prison officer, requesting a room change.
Findings from the medical examination showed that the accused had committed the crime.
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.
Kalidas filed an appeal against only his sentence.
Lawyer Ameerul Aizat Noor Haslan represented the accused while deputy public prosecutor Solehah Noratikah Ismail appeared for the prosecution.
