Kota Kinabalu: A 26-year-old man was jailed a total of 10 years plus two strokes of the cane for committing physical sexual harassment against his two nieces, separately.
Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus handed the sentence to the man after he pleaded guilty to the two charges against him.
On the first count, he was jailed four years and ordered to get one stroke of the cane for committing the offence against the 14-year-old girl by folding and holding her breasts and holding her private parts at 4am on Feb 23 this year at a living room of a house in Pitas.
On the second, the man was sentenced to another six years’ jail plus a stroke of the cane for committing the similar offence against another niece aged 14, at 4am on Feb 25 this year at the same place.
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.
The court ordered the man to serve the jail sentence concurrently from the date of arrest and undergo rehabilitative counselling while serving the sentence.
After completing the jail sentence, the man was placed under police supervision for three years.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tham Pou Jin prosecuted while the man was not represented.