28 years’ jail for committing carnal intercourse, sodomy
The degree of harm to the victims should be considered. In this case, both victims were injured and a weapon, a flip knife, was used to threaten them to follow his demand.
KUCHING: An unemployed man appeared calm after he was sentenced to a total of 28 years behind bars and 10 strokes of the cane for committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature and sodomy on two Primary 4 pupils last year.
The accused Muhammad Zaidi Saman, 27, however cried uncontrollably when his father hugged him right after the court proceeding before he was led away by the police.
Zaidi faced four charges. For the first and second charge, he was sentenced to six years’ jail and three strokes of the cane for committing carnal intercourse on a 12-year-old boy, and 10 years’ jail and four strokes for sodomising the same boy.
For the third and fourth charge, he was sentenced to seven years’ jail and four strokes of the cane, and five years, respectively, on another 12-year-old boy.
He committed the offences between 11am and noon on June 6, 2017 at an abandoned house in Jalan Bukit Siol.
In mitigating, Zaidi who appeared unrepresented by any defence counsel only asked for a lenient sentence and requested that the sentences start from the date of his arrest.
DPP Tengku Najiha Tengku Zahari, meanwhile made a lengthy reply to the mitigation.
She said both boys were traumatised following the incident.
A deterrent sentence should be imposed because it is a sexual
Tengku Najiha Tengku Zahari, Deputy Public Prosecutor
offence against children. Zaidi is in a position to look after and care forthe children although they are not his family members.
“The degree of harm to the victims should be considered. In this case, both victims were injured and a weapon, a flip knife, was used to threaten them to follow his demand.
“Both victim were very young and because of the heinous incident, they would not be able to live a normal life, and cannot enjoy their childhood. They have a long life ahead of them but they have to live with the reminder of the tragic event. It is clear the victims are scarred for life physically and mentally,” Tengku Najiha said.
In passing sentence, presiding judge Timothy Finlayson Joel said the victims were actuated with thread of violence and fear of death if they failed to comply with his (Zaidi) demand.
“The accused had taken advantage of the young boys to satisfy his sexual needs which is against the law.”
He also noted that both victims witnessed the act, and anything from the event had left them traumatised.
The victim’s impacted statement showed how the event had made them having difficulty to adapt to their life.
One of them told the court to send the culprit to life in prison, while another said a harsh sentence should be imposed on him.