Kota Kinabalu: The Court of Appeal Thursday restored the sentence of 18 years and 10 strokes of the cane on a 50-year-old man for raping his daughter 10 years ago.
Justices Datuk Ravinthran N. Paramaguru, Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Datuk Ahmad Kamal Shahid, allowed the man’s appeal after hearing his appeal and argument by the prosecution as the respondent.
The appellant had initially been sentenced to 18 years in prison and 10 strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court on Oct 12, 2016 after pleading guilty to raping his 14-year-old biological daughter at the end of November 2015, in Papar, an offence under Section 376 of the Penal Code.
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');});On Jan 31, 2017, the appellant’s sentence was enhanced to 25 years’ jail and 15 strokes of the cane by the High Court here following an appeal by the prosecution.
Dissatisfied, the appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s decision.
The Court of Appeal bench allowed the appellant’s appeal against the enhanced sentence imposed by the High Court and reinstated the original sentence handed down by the Sessions Court.
Counsel Prem Elmer Ganasan and Datuk Ram Singh, representing the appellant, argued, among others, that the High Court had imposed the heavier sentence without providing sufficient grounds and that the sentence imposed was manifestly excessive.
The appellant applied for the appeal against sentence to be allowed and for the sentence of the High Court to be set aside, and the sentence imposed by the Sessions Court to be restored.
In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Atiqah Abdul Karim submitted that the offence was serious and warranted a strong custodial sentence.
She argued that the enhanced sentence imposed by the High Court was not excessive and was consistent with sentencing trends in similar cases, urging the Court to dismiss the appeal.