UCHING: The High Court here has ordered a 40-year old man to be given six strokes of the cane, instead of 10 strokes, for sexually assaulting his stepdaughter in a rented room two years ago.
Judge Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab in his decision yesterday (Oct 3), however upheld the 12-year prison sentence handed down by the Sri Aman Sessions Court on March 8 this year.
The convict, represented by court-appointed counsels Joshua Baru and Oliver Kho, had pleaded for a reduced sentence.
The Sri Aman Sessions Court had sentenced the man to 12 years imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in a rented room in Jalan Council, Sri Aman between 2021 and January 2023.
He was charged under Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, read together with Section 16 of the same Act as the convicted has a trustworthy relationship with the girl.
Section 14(a) of the Act carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years and fine while, Section 16 of the same Act provides for a prison sentence of up to five years and at least two lashes.
For the first charge, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five lashes while for the second charge, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and five lashes.
The court previously ordered him to serve his sentence concurrently, in addition to him being ordered to undergo police supervision for two years and required to attend rehabilitation counseling.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Aidatul Azura Zainal Abidin told the court that every time the complainant (victim’s mother) went to work, the man would stay in a locked-up rented room with the victim.
The court was told that when the victim turned 11 in 2021, at around 2pm in the rented room, the man squeezed the victim’s breasts and rubbed his genitals on her anus.
The situation continued until the victim was 12-years-old, when around January 2023 at about 2pm, the convict repeated the same offence.
A police report was later lodged by the victim’s mother after the victim’s half-sister reported the incident, which led to the arrest of the man.
