Kota Kinabalu: A man charged with sexually harassing his 13-year-old daughter will go trial on Nov 7-8.
Sessions Court Judge Dayang Ellyn Narisa Abang Ahamd set the date for the man who maintained his plea of not guilty when his case was brought up for mention on Friday.
The man is accused of committing the offence by fondling the daughter’s breasts, holding her thigh and touching her private part at 5am on June 25, 2021 at a house in Putatan.
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, he will face the additional punishment under Section 16(1) of the same Act which carries a jail term of up to five years, and whipping at least two strokes, on conviction.
The court ordered for the witness statements to be served 14 days before the hearing date.
Counsel Marcel Jude defended the man who was on bail.
Meanwhile, two men were jailed four months and ordered to get a stroke of the cane each for entering the State illegally.
Jan Osman and Alkap Husian admitted separately to entering the State without their valid documents.
The illegal immigrants were arrested after failing to produce their identification documents to the police at Kota Marudu and Tanjung Aru area, respectively on Aug 4 and 11 this year.
During mitigation, they asked to be deported to their hometown as soon as possible and the sentence to be served from the date of their arrests.
The court ordered the illegal immigrants to serve the jail sentence from the date of their arrests.
After completing jail sentence, Jan and Alkap were ordered referred to the Immigration Department for his biometrics data to be recorded before deportation.
