SIBU: A 32-year-old mother was today (Oct 7) sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment by the Sessions Court here for two charges of violating the Child Act 2001.
When the charges were read and explained to Julia Utik from Bintangor through an interpreter, she understood the charges and the consequences of her guilty plea.
In the first charge, the accused was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for permitting a child aged 12 under her care to be sexually abused at a rental house on Jalan Poh Yew between January 2024 and July 2025, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 31(1)(b) of the Child Act 2001.
She was ordered to serve another six years’ imprisonment for the second charge of neglecting a child aged seven in a manner likely to cause him emotional injury, at a rental house on Lai Chee Lane between January 2018 and December 2025, thus committing an offence punishable under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001.
Both offences, upon conviction, provide for a fine of up to RM50,000, or 20 years’ jail, or both.
According to facts of the case, on August 17 at about 5.30 pm, at a rental house on Lai Chee Lane, the complainant was informed by a 12-year-old victim that she had been raped by her mother’s boyfriend.
The complainant then proceeded to the police station to make a report for further police action.
On August 19, at 12.05 am, acting on information received, a team of police led by Insp Sudiman detained the accused at a rental house on Lai Chee Lane. The accused was then brought to the Sibu Central Police Station for further investigation.
Investigation outcomes revealed that the rape incident happened last year, whereby the accused had asked the victim, who is her biological daughter, to enter the room and then locked the door to allow her boyfriend to rape the victim.
Besides that, the accused also neglected her other child, aged seven, by failing to report him for schooling and to register his birth at the National Registration Department.
