KUCHING: The Sessions Court here sentenced a farmer to 20 years in prison and 10 strokes of the cane for sexually assaulting his six-year-old daughter using his fingers last month.
The 34-year-old pleaded guilty before Judge Iris Awen Jon to a charge under Section 377CA of the Penal Code, which provides for imprisonment for a term of up to 30 years and caning, upon conviction.
According to the charge, he sexually assaulted his daughter by forcibly inserting his fingers into her genitals and anus at their home in a village within Tebedu.
Based on the case facts, the victim’s mother lodged a police report after finding a red mark on her daughter’s genitals and suspected that she had been molested.
Further alarm bells rang when the complainant observed a change in her daughter’s behaviour, who was startled awake when the complainant was about to change her daughter’s nightgown.
Later, the complainant questioned her daughter, who disclosed that her father “had disturbed her with his hands” and indicated her genital area.
Following that, the victim was taken to the hospital for further examination and the medical officer confirmed that there were signs of tearing on the victim’s genitals.
The man was arrested at the parking lot in front of a hotel in Serian at around 7.30pm on April 23.
Investigations confirmed that he had inserted his right finger into the victim’s genitals and anus in a room. Aside from that, his smartphone seized by police was found to possess 64 pornographic videos.
Meanwhile, the farmer will also be brought before the Serian Magistrate’s Court on a charge under Section 292 of the Penal Code for possessing obscene videos on his phone.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Aiman Mutallib Mohamad Shariff prosecuted the case while the farmer was unrepresented by counsel.
