KUCHING: The Sessions Court here today has sentenced two men to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment and six strokes of the rotan each for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in two separate incidents.
Daniel Arrazy Salmi Abdullah, 22, who is an odd job worker, was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and six strokes for physically sexually assaulting the victim on May 20 this year, while Irvan Febrianto, who is a cook, 20, received 10 years’ imprisonment and six strokes for a similar offence committed in early August.
They both pleaded guilty when the charges were read separately in front of Judge Musli Abdul Hamid.
In addition, Daniel was sentenced to another three years’ imprisonment for possessing nine child sexual abuse videos on his mobile phone, to run consecutively from the first sentence.
This brings the total imprisonment sentence for Daniel to 13 years.
The court also ordered Daniel to be placed under police supervision for two years after completing their sentences.
Daniel faced his first charge under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for sexually assaulting the victim at about 1:00 am on May 20 at a house in Simunjan Bazaar here.
The second charge under Section 10 of the same Act was for possessing nine videos containing child sexual abuse material on his phone when he was arrested at the Serian District Police Headquarters at about 1:25 am on August 17.
Meanwhile Irvan, an Indonesian citizen, was charged under Section 14(a) for the same offence involving the same victim at a hostel room in Serian at about 9:30 am in early August.
The court ordered him to be referred to the Immigration Department of Malaysia after serving his sentence.
According to the facts of the case, the first incident happened in May when the victim was at her place and raped by Daniel. The complainant tried to free herself but was powerless.
The accused then pulled down her pants and proceeded to sexually assault her. The complainant tried to scream for help but her mouth was covered with his hand.
After the incident, the man left the room.
The same incident happened in early August, this time, the offence was committed by Irvan.
The complainant reported the incident to her mother and was taken to Simunjan Police Station to lodge a police report.
The two accused were arrested on August 16 and 17 following a police report lodged by the victim’s mother on August 12.
A clinical examination found evidence of fresh and old tears on the victim’s private part.
In mitigation, Daniel, who is the eldest child and supports his family, including a sick mother, had prayed for leniency.
For Irvan’s case, the court heard that he and the victim were colleagues at a food stall and lived in the same hostel.
The court, in imposing the sentences, said the maximum punishment under Section 14(a) is up to 20 years’ imprisonment and whipping.
Deputy Public Prosecutor, Adriana Maisarah Mohd Farid, urged the court to impose the heaviest sentence as a deterrent, citing the victim’s age and the rising number of sexual offence cases, as well as the need to send a strong warning to the public.
The case was investigated by Inspector Victor Buckand Dusim Oh.
