KUCHING: A man was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment by the Magistrates’ Court here today for sending an obscene image to his 16-year-old sister-in-law.
Magistrate Leona Dominic Mojiliu handed down the sentence towards the 30-year-old accused, after he pleaded guilty to the charge under Section 11(1)(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOACA) 2017, which provides for imprisonment of up to three years upon conviction.
According to the charge, he committed the offence between 3:30 am and 7:30 am on June 24 at a house in Jalan Datuk Ajibah Abol here by sending his nude photo to his 16-year-old sister-in-law.
The court heard that at about 3:46 am on the day of the incident, the victim received a message containing such obscene images from the accused.
She did not download the image but instead captured a screenshot of the message as evidence before lodging a police report.
Following investigations, a police team arrested the accused at the same house on June 30 at about 11:00 pm.
Police also seized a Xiaomi 11T Pro mobile phone believed to have been used in connection with the offence.
Investigations subsequently found sufficient evidence to charge the accused under Section 11(1)(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
It was understood that the accused admitted that he had secretly recorded videos of the victim while she was bathing without her knowledge from March last year until June this year.
The recordings were for his own viewing and claimed he had not shared them with anyone else.
It was also understood that the accused further admitted to having a pornography addiction, which was uncovered during the course of the investigation.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Ahmad Fauzulutfi Suriani, while the accused was unrepresented.
