Kota Kinabalu: A 61-year-old farmer was sentenced to a total of 27 years and four strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court on two counts of raping an underage girl, four years ago.
The man was found guilty and convicted of committing the offence against the 11-year-old girl in Tambunan, in 2021.
On the first count, Judge Marlina Ibrahim sentenced the man to 12 years’ jail with two lashes of the cane for committing the offence at 5pm, early March 2021 in a bushy orchard in Tambunan.
The man was ordered to serve the sentence from the date of the bail revoked on Oct 19, 2022.
On the second count, the man was handed 15 years’ imprisonment, to run concurrently with the sentence on the first count, and ordered to receive two strokes of the cane, for repeating the offence on July 11, the same year, between 2pm and 4pm in a bushy area by the roadside of a village.
The man was charged under Section 376(2)(e) of the Penal Code, punishable under Section 376(2) of the same Act, on each count, which carries a jail term of between 10 years and 30 years and whipping, on conviction.
Seven prosecution witnesses and three defence witnesses were called to testify during the trial which began in 2021.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugenie Meredith Gilbert prosecuted while the man was represented by counsel Datuk Peter Allion.