KUCHING: The Court of Appeal here reduced the prison sentence of a man convicted of multiple child sexual offences from 50 years to 32 years, while maintaining 31 strokes of the cane.
A three-member panel comprising Wong Jian Heong, Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab and Evrol Mariette Peters made the ruling today after hearing the appeal by 46-year-old Alladin Lanim.
The court revised the cumulative imprisonment term but upheld the whipping sentence imposed by the Sessions Court.
Alladin had earlier pleaded guilty to several offences under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 (SOACA). The charges involved making and preparing child sexual abuse material as well as using children in the production of such material.
The Sessions Court had previously imposed prison terms for the offences and ordered them to run consecutively, resulting in a total jail sentence of 50 years along with 31 strokes of the cane.
During the hearing, defence counsel Chai Yuen Hui appealed for leniency, citing his client’s guilty plea and remorse. He also informed the court that the appellant had accepted the whipping sentence unconditionally.
Deputy public prosecutor Shamala Jaganathan opposed the appeal and submitted that the sentences imposed by the lower courts were justified given the seriousness of the offences.
According to the prosecution’s submissions, the offences involved the exploitation of several children aged between six and 13 over a period spanning several years.
Investigators also uncovered a large amount of child sexual abuse material from the appellant’s device, including thousands of photographs and videos.
The prosecution argued that the scale and gravity of the offences warranted stern punishment to reflect the harm inflicted on the victims and to serve as a deterrent against similar crimes.
In January 2024, Sessions Court judge Iris Awen Jon convicted Alladin after he pleaded guilty to three charges and sentenced him to 22 years’ imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane, five years’ imprisonment and three strokes of the cane, and 13 years’ imprisonment and eight strokes of the cane respectively.
For the first charge, he was accused of producing child pornography in the form of videos and photographs using his mobile phone. The second charge involved preparing child pornography using the same device under Section 6 of the Act.
For the third charge, he was accused under Section 7 of the same Act for using a 13-year-old boy in the preparation and production of the material.
All three offences were committed at a quarters in Biawak between Aug 13, 2018 and Dec 6, 2020.
In 2024, the High Court dismissed his appeal to set aside the sentence. Judicial Commissioner Leonard David Shim ruled that the Sessions Court had not erred in imposing the punishment, describing the offences as serious and warranting the sentence imposed.
