SIBU: A 28-year-old man was sentenced to a total of 36 years imprisonment and six strokes of the rattan by the Mukah Sessions Court here today (Oct 15) for three counts of raping a teenage girl.
Judge Musyiri Peet handed down the sentences on Zebrail Frick Philip from Nanga Dijih, Mukah after he pleaded no contest to the charges read which was explained to him through an interpreter.
He understood the charges and the consequences of maintaining his plea of guilt.
For each of the charges, Zebrail was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and two strokes of rattan.
However, Judge Musyiri ordered the imprisonment sentences to run concurrently from the date of his arrest on June 16, 2024.
In the first charge, Zebrail was indicted for committing rape on a 15-year-old victim at a longhouse in Jalan Sibu-Tatau, Selangau on Dec 31, 2023 at about midnight.
The second charge stated that he committed the rape on the victim at the same venue on May 31, 2024 at about midnight.
The other charge of raping the victim took place at the same venue on June 15,2024 at about 11.30 pm.
The offence is listed under Section 376(2)(d) of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of not less than 10 years and not more than 30 years as well as liable to whipping, upon conviction.
According to facts of the case, on June 16, 2024, at about 12.30 pm, at a longhouse in Jalan Sibu-Tatau, Selangau, the victim received a phone call from the accused.
He then entered the victim’s bedroom through a window and forced her to have sex with him.
Though the victim resisted his advance, the accused managed to satisfy his lust on her.
The victim subsequently lodged a police report.
Acting on information received on the same day at about 16.56 pm, a team of police from Mukah police station arrested the accused and seized a handphone from him.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mohamad Amirul Hakim Mohamad Zamri while the accused was unrepresented.
