Kota Kinabalu: A retired army man who admitted to two counts of committing physical sexual harassment against his niece but claimed trial to raping the victim, was jailed a total of 20 years plus six strokes of the cane.
Sessions Court Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan meted out the sentence to the 57-year-old man on Friday.
On the first count, the man was jailed eight years plus one stoke for committing physical sexual harassment against the 12-year-old girl by fondling her breasts at 12.45pm in the end of Aug this year inside a car along the road to a village in Papar.
The offence under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 provides for a jail term of up to 20 years, and whipping, on conviction.
The man was jailed another two years plus two strokes of the cane due to the relationship between him and the victim, and the additional punishment under Section 16(1) of the same Act provides for a jail term of up to five years, and whipping at least two strokes, on conviction.
The sentences were ordered to be served consecutively.
On the second count, the man was jailed another eight years plus a stroke of the cane for committing the offence against the same victim by touching her private part at the same place and time.
The man received another two years’ jail plus two strokes of the cane as an additional punishment and he was ordered to serve the sentence consecutively.
However, the court ordered the man to serve the first and second count concurrently which means he only needed to serve 10 years.
For the rape charge, the man pleaded not guilty.
The court set Dec 12 this year for mention and no bail was offered.
During mitigation, the man who was not represented, asked for leniency saying that he has a family to look after and that he was already old.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Dacia Jane Romanus urged the court to impose a heavy sentence as it was a serious offence.
Dacia submitted that the victim was the man’s niece who should carry his role as a father to the victim as hers had passed away but committed the heinous act against her.
She also informed the court that the trend of sexual cases in Papar was very high and a deterrent sentence should be a warning to the public to not commit similar offence.
The court heard that the incident occurred when the man was fetching the victim home from school.
While they were on their way home, the man fondled her breasts and touched her private part.
On Oct 20 this year, the victim asked one of her teacher to send her home because she feared her uncle (the man) would fondled her breasts and touch her private part again.
The teacher informed the village chief and a meeting was held where the victim’s mother also attended.
On Oct 26 this year, the victim lodged a police report and the man was arrested thereafter.
Investigation revealed that the man was the victim’s uncle and the mother had entrusted the man to send and fetch the victim from school after the victim’s father passed away.
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