Man jailed 27 years for raping stepdaughter

KOTA KINABALU: A 50-yearold farmer was sentenced to 27 years' jail by the Sessions Court here yesterday for raping his stepdaughter.

Judge Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim imposed the custodial sentence on the farmer after he pleaded guilty as charged under Section 376 (3) of the Penal Code.

The indictment carries a jail term of up to 30 years and whipping of not less than 10 strokes of the cane, upon conviction.

He committed the offence against the 11-year-4-monthold girl at a house in Tenghilan around 7 pm-12 am in early February this year.

In mitigation, the accused who was not represented, pleaded for leniency on the grounds that that he has five small children, who are still in school, and a wife to support and is now remorseful of his act.

Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Nur Faezah Jafry, however, pressed for the heaviest sentence as the accused had committed a very serious offence against his own stepdaughter while noting that the offence is becoming rampant.

Facts of the case stated that on March 4, the victim informed her teacher at school that she was raped by her stepfather. The teacher then called the mother of the victim to come over to school without telling her about the story she heard from the victim and subsequently brought both of them to the police station.

At the police station, the victim told her mother about the rape incident and the mother lodged a police report thereafter.

Investigation revealed that the incident took place during the Chinese New Year holiday when the victim and her younger sibling was at home with the accused in Tenghilan while her mother was in Kudat. Prior to this, the victim in her statement claimed that the accused had raped her several times since 2018 but she was afraid to tell her mother about it.

In a separate case, another man was jailed 13 years and given two strokes of the cane for raping a teenager who had escaped from her school hostel.

The judge imposed the sentence on Muslimin Lamusa, 30, when he changed his plea from not guilty to one of guilty when the case came up for trial.

She said Muslimin's claim of not knowing that the girl was underaged could not be accepted.

As a Muslim, he should know that it is prohibited in Islam to have sexual relationship with those who are non-mahram (person who could have marriage relationship).

In passing the sentence, she also took into consideration the rampancy of such offence as often reported in the news and new cases registered in court.

Muslimin raped the 13-yearold girl at a rented house in Tuaran between 5 am and 6 am on September 2, 2018.

The offence under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code carries a jail term of up to 20 years, and whipping, upon conviction.

In mitigation, counsel Goldam Hamid pleaded for leniency on the grounds that the accused has a family to support and had pleaded guilty to the offence.

DPP Nur Faezah, however, urged the court to impose to impose a deterrent sentence.

Based on the facts, the victim lodged a police report on September 4, 2018 claiming that she was raped by a man identified as Muslimin.

Investigation revealed that the victim, together with four friends, had escaped from a hostel in Tuaran and met one Bobby, who brought them to a pub at Tuaran town. At the pub, she met Muslimin and he brought her to a rented house near the pub at about 5 am where the rape incident took place.

According to the victim, the rape incident took place because she was drunk and half-conscious.