Kota Kinabalu: A 46-year-old man who raped his daughter since she was five-year-old, was sentenced to 41 years and received 24 lashes of whipping.
Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus handed down the sentence on the man who pleaded guilty to two charges against him on Tuesday.
On the first count, the man was jailed 20 years plus 11 strokes of the cane for raping the 13-year-old girl at 4.30am on May 7, 2022 at a house in Kudat.
On second count, he was sentenced to another 21 years’ jail and ordered to be given 13 strokes of the cane for raping the same girl at 4.40pm on June 9, 2022 at the same house.
The court ordered the man to serve the jail sentence consecutively from the date of his arrest and after serving the jail sentence, he was ordered to be placed under police supervision for three years.
The offence under Section 376(3) of the Penal Code carries a jail term of between eight and 30 years, and whipping at least 10 strokes, on conviction.
During mitigation, the man who was not represented, asked for a light sentence saying he regretted his wrongdoing and if he was given a chance, he was willing to contribute to his family.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tham Pou Jin urged the court to impose a severe punishment on the man on the grounds that the man had taken sexual advantage on his minor biological daughter since she was five years old.
“The accused is married and has his own wife to satisfy his sexual desire, however, he still cannot control his lust as he raped his own daughter to satisfy his greed. This rape incident has destroyed the victim’s self-worth and future.
“In short, the crime that the man had repeatedly committed against the victim, is indeed a heinous crime. It is highly
probable for the man to keep doing his heinous action towards the victim if she did not report the incident to the police,” said Tham.
The court heard that the incident came to light when the victim went for a counselling session in her school.
After the counselling session, the victim then lodged a police report because she did not want his father rape her repeatedly.
Following the police report, the man was arrested and investigation revealed that he committed the rape while his wife was working as a security guard at a school in Kudat.
The investigation also revealed that the man had raped the girl when she was five and she did not inform anyone about the incident because she did not know whether rape was wrong or not.
During the recent incident, the victim tried to fight the man but to no avail and the man also warned her to not tell anyone about the incident.
Because of the rape, the victim was scared and traumatized, lost focus during learning session, her character had changed from a cheerful person to a quiet person.
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