Kota Kinabalu: A 29-year-old Filipino who raped his niece until she gave birth, was jailed 17 years and ordered to get six strokes of the cane.
Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus handed the sentence to the man who pleaded guilty Friday.
Apart from the sentence, the man was also ordered to undergo rehabilitation counselling while serving the sentence.
He was ordered to serve the jail sentence from the date of his arrest and referred to the Immigration Department after completing the jail sentence.
The man had raped the 13-year-old girl at 11pm on Feb 10, 2023 at a house in Kota Marudu.
The offence under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code carries a jail term of up to 20 years, and whipping.
During mitigation, the man who was not represented, asked for leniency, saying that after serving the sentence, he wanted to take care of his wife and children.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Siti Hajar Mazlan urged the court to impose a heavy sentence on the grounds that it was a serious offence.
Siti submitted that a heavy sentence should be imposed to the man so as to give him a lesson and also public at large.
She added that as an uncle to the victim, the man should protect her instead of raping her which resulted in the birth of a child.
The court heard that the complainant who was the man’s wife, had lodged a police report claiming that her husband had raped her niece.
Investigation revealed that the woman realised about the girl’s pregnancy when she touched the girl’s tummy.
The auntie and the girl’s mother then brought the victim to the hospital which then the doctor had confirmed the pregnancy.
The woman and mother then forced the victim to reveal the incident and was told that the man had raped her while her parents were not at home.
The victim gave birth to a baby as a result of the rape and DNA confirmed that the man was the biological father.
Following the police report, the man was arrested.
