Kota Kinabalu: A 29-year-old man was jailed eight years and ordered to get two strokes of the cane for sexually harassing a minor.
Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus meted out the sentence to Mohamad Rafizan Rushlan after ruling that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt against Ruslan, on Friday.
Rafizan was found guilty of committing the offence by biting the seven-year-old girl’s back and caressing her private part at 2.55pm on Dec 6, 2019 at the stairwell of Taman Tun Said in Kota Belud.
The offence, under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, carries a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping on conviction.
The court also ordered Rafizan to be placed under police supervision for two years after serving the jail sentence.
During mitigation, Rafizan who was not represented, asked for leniency saying that he has nine siblings to look after.
He also applied for no whipping to be imposed on him.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mas Izzaty Lokman urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence submitting that the case went through full trial.
She added that the victim in the case was traumatised by the incident.
The prosecution had called five witnesses during the hearing while only two witnesses testified in the defence stage.
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