Kota Kinabalu: A 58-year-old man was jailed 10 years and ordered to get two strokes of the cane for sexually harassing his 14-year-old granddaughter.
Sessions Court Judge Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim meted out the sentence to the man who pleaded guilty to the charge, Monday.
The man was sentenced to eight years’ jail for committing the offence by fondling the girl’s breasts between July 23 and July 27 this year at a house in Manggatal.
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.
Due to the relationship between the man and the victim, the court had imposed another two years’ jail and ordered given two strokes of the cane.
The additional punishment under Section 16(1) of the same Act carries a jail term of up to five years, and whipping at least two strokes, on conviction.
The court ordered the man to serve the jail sentence consecutively from the date of his arrest on July 31.
During mitigation, the man who was not represented, asked for leniency saying that it was his first offence and that he had pleaded guilty to the charge.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nur Faezah Jafry urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on the grounds that it was a serious offence in which the man had committed the offence against his granddaughter.
She submitted that the sentence should serve a lesson not only to the man but other would-be offenders as well as public at large.
The court heard that the incident happened when the man called the victim to his house to massage him while his wife was not at home, and then fondled the victim’s breasts while she was sitting next to the man.
Investigation revealed that the man was staying next to the victim’s house and the victim did not fight because she feared that the man would scold her.
The incident came to light when the incident was witnessed by the victim’s sister.
The sister then revealed the incident to their mother and lodged a police report thereafter.
Following the report, the man was arrested on July 31 this year.
