Kota Kinabalu: A 51-year-old man was sentenced to nine years in jail and ordered given two strokes of the cane for committing physical sexual harassment against his daughter, last year.
Sessions Court Judge Marlina Ibrahim handed the sentence to the man who maintained his guilty plea when his case was brought up for facts and sentencing.
The man was jailed seven years plus two strokes of the cane for committing the offence against the 13-year-old girl by touching her private parts at 7pm on Dec 18, 2024 at a house in a village in Menumbok, Beaufort.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});The offence under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOACA) 2017 provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, on conviction.
The man, due his relationship with the girl, was jailed another two years as additional punishment under Section 16(1) of the SOACA which carries a jail term of up to five years and whipping of at least two strokes.
In mitigation, the man asked for leniency.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Afiqah Alya who appeared for the prosecution while the man was unrepresented urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on the grounds that it was rampant and a serious offence.
The court heard that the incident happened while the victim was about to take shower when the father entered a toilet of their house and asked her to take off her pants but the victim to refuse to do so.
However, the man pulled out her pants and touched her private parts but stopped his action when he heard sound of motorcycle belonging to the victim’s brother.
The frightened victim fled to her aunt’s house in Kuala Penyu on the next day but at 8pm on the same day, the father had brought her home but went to police station first to inform that the victim was found.
The father had ordered the victim not to reveal the real reason for running away from home and told her to say that she was going to her mother’s house.
He told the victim that if he revealed the incident, he would go to prison.
But on May 21 this year, the father had hit the victim because she didn’t want to wash clothes and the incident was witnessed by her brother.
The victim then went to her foster mother and revealed everything about the incident that happened to her and the foster mother later brought the victim to the police station to lodge a report against her father.
Investigation revealed that the man had committed physical sexual harassment against his daughter.
