Appeals court reinstates 19-year jail term, whipping for man who raped, assaulted sister

New Straits Times

2 days ago

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today reinstated a 19-year prison sentence and 19 strokes of the cane on a 24-year-old man for raping and physically sexually assaulting his younger sister when she was just 11 years old.
A three-member bench, led by Justice Datuk Hashim Hamzah, allowed the prosecution's appeal to overturn the High Court's earlier decision, which had reduced the sentence to nine years' imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane.
The other judges on the panel were Justices Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin.
The man, who was 17 at the time of the first offence, had pleaded guilty at the Sessions Court to raping his sister in a flat in Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, at night, sometime between 2018 and 2019.
He also pleaded guilty to a second charge of sexually assaulting her at the same location on June 12, 2021, when he was 20 years old.
In January 2022, the Sessions Court sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane for the rape offence, along with an additional two years' jail and two strokes under Section 16(1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
For the 2021 sexual assault offence, the court imposed eight years' imprisonment and five strokes of the cane, plus an additional one year and two strokes under the same law.
The Sessions Court ordered all sentences to run consecutively, bringing the total sentence to 19 years' imprisonment and 19 strokes of the cane.
The court also directed that the accused undergo counselling throughout his imprisonment and be placed under police supervision for two years after his release.
However, in September 2022, the High Court reduced the sentence for the rape charge from eight years to five, set aside the 10 strokes of the cane, and removed the additional punishment under Section 16(1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
However, the High Court maintained the sentences for the sexual assault offence and ordered the sentences for both offences to run concurrently, resulting in a total sentence of nine years' imprisonment and seven strokes of the cane.
During today's proceedings, deputy public prosecutor Tengku Shahrizam Tuan Lah argued that the sentence imposed by the High Court for the rape offence was manifestly inadequate as under Section 376(3) of the Penal Code, the offence carries a maximum sentence of 30 years' imprisonment and a minimum of 10 strokes of the cane.
He submitted that the High Court judge had erred by failing to consider the seriousness of the offence, particularly as it involved siblings.
Meanwhile, lawyer Khor Boon How, representing the man, urged the court to maintain the sentence handed down by the High Court, noting that his client was still considered a minor when he committed the rape offence.
He argued that reinstating the original sentence imposed by the Sessions Court would deprive his client of the opportunity to spend his formative years contributing to society.
– Bernama