Kota Kinabalu: A 43-year-old who was jailed 15 years and ordered given 10 lashes of the cane for raping his stepdaughter two years ago, failed in his appeal.
High Court Judge Leonard David Shim dismissed the man’s appeal on Thursday after considering his appeal and submissions from the prosecution as respondent.
The man was appealing for his sentence to be reduced.
Leonard in delivering his decision held that the court found that the sentence meted out by the Sessions Court judge was within the trend of sentencing for similar offence.
“The Sessions Court had duly considered the mitigating as well as the aggravating factors which is before passing the sentence.
“Having regard to the relationship between the appellant and the victim, and the manner in which the offence was committed, this court has not found the sentence to be manifestly excessive.
“In the circumstances, the decision of the lower court is affirmed and the appeal against sentence is dismissed,” held Leonard.
The appellant was on March 24, 2021 jailed 15 years and ordered to be caned 10 times by the Sessions Court after he pleaded guilty to committing the offence to the 15-year-old girl between 8am and 10.30am on July 27, 2020 at a house in Ranau.
The offence, under Section 376(3) of the Penal Code, carries a jail term of between eight and 30 years, and whipping at least 10 strokes of the cane, on conviction.
The Sessions Court ordered the man to serve the jail sentence from the date of his conviction. Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohammed Ali @ Rocky Imran appeared for the prosecution.
In another case, a couple claimed trial for drug trafficking.
Chin Wei Ting and his girlfriend Siti Nur’ain Matusin, both 23, pleaded not guilty to trafficking 619.57gm of a mixture of Cannabis and Cannabis Resin at 11.35pm on Nov 22, 2021 at a unit at Loft D, KK Times Square, here.
They were jointly charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
The charge is punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same Act which carries the death sentence or life imprisonment and whipping not less than 15 strokes if not sentenced to death, on conviction.
Leonard set Dec 8 for pre-trial case management.
The accused were represented by counsel Hairul V. Othman.
