Kota Kinabalu: A 52-year-old farmer who raped his grandniece was sentenced to 20 years’ jail and ordered to get six strokes of the cane.
Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus meted out the sentence to the man after ruling that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt against the man on Friday.
The man was found guilty of raping the 10-year-old girl in 2018 at a rented room in a house in Kota Belud.
He was convicted under Section 376(2)(e) of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of between 10 and 30 years, and whipping, on conviction.
The court ordered the man to serve the jail sentence from the date of his arrest and after serving the sentence, he was placed under police supervision for two years.
During mitigation, counsel Saban Sawayan who defended the man, asked for leniency saying that his client has six children to look after and that since he was under remand, his wife was staying alone in their house.
Saban also asked for no whipping to be imposed on his client.
He informed the court that it was the man’s first offence as he did not have any previous conviction record.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mas Izzaty Lokman urged the court to impose a deterrent and heavy sentence on the grounds that the man had taken advantage of the victim who came to his house to watch television.
Mas said for the application to not be given whipping, she said there was no document or medical report to support the application.
Five prosecution and two defence witnesses were called during the hearing.
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