PUTRAJAYA: A stepfather, who pleaded guilty to two counts of raping his stepdaughter almost four years, will spend 24 years in jail and to be whipped 20 times.
A Court of Appeal three-man bench led by Justice Datuk Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid reinstated the 12 years’ jail sentence and 10 strokes of the cane imposed on the man by the Kota Bahru Sessions Court for each count of the offence, to run consecutively.
She set aside the Kota Bahru High Court’s decision to sentence the 50-year-old man to 15 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane for each count, to run concurrently.
Justice Umi Kalthum allowed the prosecution’s appeal to restore the sentence imposed by the Sessions Court.
Also presiding on the panel were Justices Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Datuk Steven Chung Hian Guan.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Mohamed Faizal Mohamed Fedder asked the court to reinstate the deterrent sentence imposed by the Sessions Court, saying that the victim was traumatised.
The man who was unrepresented by counsel, pleaded to the court to maintain the 15 years’ jail sentence.
“I regret my action. I was drunk at the time of the incident,” he said.
The man pleaded guilty at the Sessions Court to two counts of raping his 19-year-old stepdaughter in a house in Bachok, Kelantan in May and June 2015.
On March 7, 2017, the Sessions Court sentenced him to 12 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane for each charge, to run consecutively from the date of his arrest, Oct 3, 2016.
On Dec 7, 2017, the Kota Bahru High Court imposed a 15 years’ jail sentence and 10 strokes of the cane on the man for each count and ordered him to serve the sentence concurrently. – Bernama
