KUCHING: A 20-year-old was sentenced to a total of 15 years’ imprisonment by the Sessions Court today after pleading guilty to three charges of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2023.
Judge Noorhisham Mohd Jaafar sentenced the accused to five years’ imprisonment on each charge and ordered the sentences to run concurrently from May 18, the date of his previous conviction.
The court also ordered that the youthful offender be placed under police supervision upon completing his prison term.
The offences, all punishable under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code, were committed in Serian between June and October 2023.
The section provides for imprisonment of up to 20 years and whipping upon conviction.
The accused, who was 17 at the time of the offences, was charged under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOACA) 2017 after the victim’s brother discovered an obscene video of the pair being circulated on messaging platforms, which had been shared by the accused.
According to the charge, the first incident occurred in mid-June 2023 at about 3 pm in a bushland area near a river in Kampung Rituh.
The second took place in July 2023 at about 9 am in bushland near a bridge in Kampung Raeh.
The third incident happened in October 2023 at about 9 am in an abandoned hut within an oil palm plantation in Kampung Rituh.
The victim was aged 13 years old respectively during the three incidents.
The court was told that the accused and victim had been in a romantic relationship since April 2023, while both were students at the same school.
The accused admitted to not using any contraceptive protection during the acts, which were allegedly consensual.
In mitigation, counsel Moh Ung Kieng from Yayasan Bantuan Guaman Kebangsaan (YBGK) urged the court to consider that the accused was a youthful offender and asked for the sentences to run concurrently with other charges imposed by another court involving the same victim.
The defence submitted that the victim had suffered no injuries during the incidents, a fact supported by the social report and case facts.
It was also stated that the accused came from a poor family with parents who, though not well educated, supervised their children’s activities.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Adriana Maisarah Mohd Farid urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, highlighting the rampancy of such offences and noting that the accused faced a total of five charges.
The prosecution argued that the accused posed a dangerous threat, citing the social report.
He previously was also sentenced to a total of ten years imprisonment on two charges of raping the same victim.
Sessions Court Judge Musli Ab Hamid sentenced the youthful offender to five years on the first count and another five years on the second.
He ordered both sentences to run concurrently from the date of sentencing.
Musli handed down the sentence after accepting the youth’s guilty plea and considering the probation report, recommendations from court advisers, as well as submissions from the prosecution.
