KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here today sentenced an unemployed man to 29 years in prison and given 11 strokes of the cane for sexually assaulting and raping his 11-year-old niece six years ago.
Judge Mohd Kafli Che Ali handed down the sentence on the 45-year-old man after finding the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubts against the prosecution’s case at the end of the defence case.
The court sentenced him to 12 years in prison and four strokes of the cane for committing physical sexual assault on the girl and 17 years in prison and seven strokes for raping her.
He was ordered the serve the jail sentences consecutively from on Friday (Sept 27).
"The accused is also ordered to undergo a counseling session for a year as well as be placed under police supervision for a year," said the judge.
The man was charged with physically sexually assaulting the victim who was then 11 years old in the living room of a house in Jalan Pantai Dalam, Brickfields here at 8pm in December 2018.
The charge, framed under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 and read together with Section 16(1) of the same law, provides imprisonment for not more than 20 years and can also be punished with whipping and as an additional punishment for Section 16(1), can be imprisoned no more than five years and can also be punished with not less than two strokes of the cane.
He was also charged under Section 376(2)(d) of the Penal Code, read with Section 16(1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, with raping the girl at the same place, time and date.
The law provides a maximum prison sentence of 30 years and whipping upon conviction.
In the same proceedings, the court also sentenced two brothers, aged 31 and 29, to jail and whipping for physically sexually assaulting the same girl, who is also their niece, at the same place.
The 31-year-old was sentenced to 12 years in prison and four strokes of the cane for committing the offence on the girl in November 2019, while the younger brother was sentenced to seven years in jail and two strokes of the cane for committing the offence at 4 pm in December 2019.
The court also ordered the two men to undergo counselling for a year and placed under police supervision after completing their jail time.
Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Noor Shakira Aliana Alias requested the impose the maximum prison sentence and whipping, taking into account the serious offences committed by all the accused.
"The victim is traumatised that she attempted suicide as indicated by the scars on her wrist. The three accused have blood relations with the victim and they are supposed to protect the victim," she said.
In mitigation, the three brothers, unrepresented, said they were supporting their parents. - Bernama
