KUCHING: A 35-year-old stepfather was sentenced to a total of 31 years imprisonment and 20 strokes of whipping by the Sessions Court and Magistrates’ Court here on Tuesday (Aug 4) for sexually assaulting his 10-year-old stepdaughter and committing criminal intimidation against her last May.
In the Sessions Court, Judge Musli Ab Hamid meted out the sentence after the accused pleaded guilty to charges under Section 377B of the Penal Code, read together with Section 16(1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOACA) 2017, and Section 14(a) of the SOACA 2017.
The offences are punishable under Section 14, read together with Section 16(1) of the same Act.
For the first charge, the accused was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and eight strokes of the cane, with an additional two years’ imprisonment and two strokes, pursuant to Section 16(1) of the SOACA 2017.
For the second charge, he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and eight strokes, with an additional two years’ imprisonment and two strokes, also pursuant to Section 16(1) of the SOACA 2017.
The court ordered all imprisonment sentences to run concurrently. The accused was also ordered to undergo counselling during his sentence and to remain under police supervision for two years upon release.
The first charge involved the accused committing an act of gross indecency on May 29 at approximately 8pm at their home in Jalan Bako.
For the second charge, the accused sexually assaulted the victim on the same day and at the same location.
The victim was traumatised by the ordeal. Despite her attempts to resist, she was unable to defend herself due to fear of the accused. She only revealed the incident to her mother in late June.
On July 28, police arrested the accused after the victim’s mother lodged a report upon discovering that her daughter had been sexually assaulted.
In a separate proceeding, the Magistrates’ Court sentenced the accused to two years’ imprisonment for threatening to hit his stepdaughter in connection with the same incident.
Magistrate Ling Hui Chuan imposed the sentence after the accused pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 506 of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of up to two years imprisonment, a fine, or both.
The court heard that the accused threatened to hit the victim if she told her mother about the sexual assault. The accused admitted that the threat was made to frighten her and prevent her from revealing the truth.
Deputy public prosecutor Chuah Kai Sheng and Ahmad Fauzulutfi Suriani appeared for the prosecution while the accused was unrepresented.
