KOTA KINABALU: A 54-year-old man who committed physical sexual harassment against two girls, while sending and fetching them from kindergarten, was sentenced to a total of 30 years plus three strokes of the cane.
Sessions Court Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan meted out the sentence to Rusli Japar who maintained his plea of guilty to three charges against him, during the facts and sentencing on Tuesday.
On the first count, Rusli was jailed 10 years and ordered to get a stroke of the cane for committing the offence the five-year-old girl by touching her private part between March and December 2024 inside a car parked in a village in Tuaran.
On the second count, he was sent to prison for another 10 years plus a stroke of the cane for repeating the similar offence against the same victim at a house in the same village in Tuaran.
On the third count, Rusli was jailed another 10 years and received one stroke of the cane for committing the similar offence against another five-year-old girl also by touching her private part in 2022 inside a car also parked in the same village in Tuaran.
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.