Baram man gets 24-year jail, caning for sexually assaulting daughter

The Sessions Court here yesterday sentenced a man to a total of 24 years in jail and four strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to two charges of sexually assaulting his underage daughter.

Judge Azreena Aziz sentenced the 37-year-old man from Baram to 12 years in jail and two strokes of the cane for each of the charges, and ordered for the punishments to run concurrently effective yesterday.

The man would therefore face 12 years behind bars and four strokes of the cane.

Azreena also ordered for the man to undergo counselling while in jail and to be placed under police supervision for two years upon completion of his jail term.

Azreena meted out the sentence against the man after examining several aspects, including his guilty plea and appeal, the facts of the case, the seriousness of the offence committed and taking into account the public interest.

The man was charged under Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 (Act 792), punishable under the same section of the same Act, and read together with Section 16(1) of the same Act, which carries a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping.

Based on the facts of the case, the man had sexually assaulted his then-seven-year-old daughter by touching her breast, at a farm in Baram at around 7am in March 2022.

He committed the offence again by rubbing his penis on her buttocks, inside a room of a longhouse in Baram at around 8pm in the same month.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhamad Ali Hussain prosecuted the case, while the man was unrepresented by counsel.