Kota Kinabalu: A 21-year-old was jailed nine years and ordered to get two strokes of the cane for raping an underaged girl.
Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus handed the sentence to the teenager who changed his plea in the middle of his trial and pleaded guilty to the charge against him.
The prosecution had already called on five witnesses in the hearing before the teenager made the plea.
He admitted to raping the 13-year-old girl between 9am and 5pm on July 1, 2019 and Feb 12, 2020 at a bedroom of a house in Taman Beringin, Kota Marudu.
The teenager who was 17-years-old at the time, was charged under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years, and whipping, on conviction.
The court ordered the teenager to be placed under police supervision for two years after completing his sentence.
During mitigation, counsel Ari Nadzrah Abd Rahman who defended the accused, asked for a lower sentence saying that his client is a youthful offender and has no previous conviction.
Ari informed the court that no force was used by his client as both the teenager and the victim had a “special relationship” during the crime.
According to Ari, the defence chose to go through the trial just to let the victim prove that the teenager did not force her to have sex.
However, Deputy Public Prosecution Tham Pou Jin urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence as the prosecution had called witnesses in the hearing which had wasted time all parties.
Tham said the incident happened twice and the first incident was when the victim was 13-years-old and the second when she was 14-years-old.
She added that the teenager had taken advantage of the victim, who is a minor and still naïve.
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