Kota Kinabalu: A former athletic coach failed in his appeal at the High Court against his conviction and jail sentence of a total of 23 years plus two strokes of the cane on two counts of raping an underage girl five years ago.
High Court Judge Datuk Christopher Chin in delivering his reserved decision on Friday, dismissed Mohamad Hassan Rivera’s appeal.
The court affirmed the conviction and sentence imposed on Hassan by the Sessions Court on Oct 2, 2020.
Hassan was ordered to commence serving his sentence immediately and his bail granted earlier by the lower court pending his appeal to the High Court was revoked.
Hassan, 49, was found guilty after a full trial at the Sessions Court on each charge under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code, which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years, and whipping, on conviction.
On the first count, Hassan was jailed 10 years and ordered to receive a stroke of the cane for raping the 15-year-old girl at 11pm on March 18, 2018 in a house at Papar.
On the second count, he was sentenced to another 13 years’ jail plus a stroke of the cane for raping the same girl between 7pm and 8pm on March 24, 2018 at a hostel at the Likas Sport Complex, here.
Hassan was ordered to serve the sentence consecutively from the date of his conviction but he managed to obtain a stay of execution pending an appeal to the High Court.
He was represented by counsel Ram Singh and Chen Wen Jye while Deputy Public Prosecutor Afiq Agoes was for the prosecution as respondent.
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