Farmer jailed, whipped for sexual assaults on cousins

KOTA KINABALU: A farmer was jailed for a total of seven years and ordered to be given two whippings by a Sessions Court here on Wednesday for two counts of committing sexual physical assaults on two cousins.

The 61-year-old man had pleaded guilty before judge Elsie Primus to the charges under Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.

The indictment provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.

On the first count, the accused was sentenced to three years’ jail and one whipping for touching the 12-year-and-two-month-old victim’s thigh at a house in a village in Kota Belud on Oct 25, 2021.

He received another four years and one stroke of the cane for the second count of touching the hip of another victim aged 13 years and one month old at the same place and on the same day.

The court ordered the jail terms to run concurrently from the date of the accused was first charged in court on July 31, 2023.

The accused was also ordered to undergo rehabilitative counselling while he is in detention and to be placed under police supervision for three years after completing his jail sentence.

In mitigation, the unrepresented accused prayed for a lenient sentence and requested for no whipping punishment on the grounds that he has many illnesses and his children are still schooling.

In reply, the prosecution urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence and whipping punishment since it is a sexual related case.

The prosecution urged the court to take into consideration the interest of the public and applied for the accused to undergo rehabilitative counselling while serving his jail sentence.