KUALA LUMPUR: She was only 11 years old, and three men whom you expected to be protecting her – her uncles – instead raped her.
The girl was so traumatised by her horrific experience six years ago that she tried to take her own life.
Justice has finally been served. The Sessions Court here sentenced one of the three, a jobless man, to 29 years in prison and 11 strokes of the cane for sexually assaulting and raping his niece.
Judge Mohd Kafli Che Ali handed down the sentence on the 45-year-old man after finding that 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 to serve the jail sentences consecutively, Bernama reported.
“The accused is also ordered to undergo a counselling 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, at 8pm in December 2018.
He was charged under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, which read together with Section 16(1) of the same law, provides for imprisonment of not more than 20 years and can also be punished with whipping.
As an extra punishment under Section 16(1), he can be imprisoned for no more than five years and can also be punished with at least 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 for 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 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 court impose the maximum prison sentence and whipping, considering the serious offences committed by all the accused.
“The victim is so 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.
