KOTA KINABALU, Nov 11 — A retired soldier was jailed for a total of 20 years and ordered to be whipped six times by the Sessions Court here yesterday for two counts of committing sexual physical assaults against his little niece.
Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan imposed the sentence on the 57-year-old accused after he admitted to both the changes under Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, punishable under Section 14 and read together with Section 16, both of the same Act.
On the first to the second counts, the accused was sentenced to eight years’ jail plus one stroke of the cane each.
The court also imposed additional jail sentences of two years and two strokes of the rattan for each of the charges.
Both the jail terms and the additional jail sentences are to run consecutively.
However, the jail terms for both the charges are to be served concurrently from the date of arrest which means that the accused will serve 10 years’ jail only.
The accused, who was unrepresented, admitted to touching the 12-year-and-two-month-old victim’s breasts and private parts at a gravel road near a village in Papar in August.
He is facing another rape charge of raping the victim at the same place and day.
The case will be mentioned back on December 12.
The court heard that the victim had sought help from her teacher to send her home after school as she was afraid to follow his uncle (the accused), who was supposed to fetch her.
She confided to her teacher that his uncle, who had been fetching her from school since early this year, had touched her body.
The teacher had brought up the matter to the village head and the victim’s mother was informed.
A police report was lodged by the victim’s mother against the accused, who is the brother of her late husband. — Borneo Post Online
