PUTRAJAYA, 9 Sept 2017:
A man was sentenced to 48 years jail and to be given 24 strokes of the cane by the Special Court For Sexual Crimes Against Children after he pleaded guilty to committing 623 sexual crimes, including sodomy, on his 15-year-old daughter.
The 36-year-old man pleaded guilty to 591 sodomy charges, 30 charges for committing sexual physical contact, one rape charge and another for sexually abusing the girl – who is his eldest daughter.
Judge Yong Zarida Sazali sentenced the man – who is a unit trust agent – to 28 years’ imprisonment for rape, 20 years for sexual abuse and 20 years jail on each count for committing sexual physical contact on the girl – to be served concurrently from the date of his arrest on July 26, meaning only 28 years.
For the 591 sodomy charges, he was sentenced to 20 years’ jail on each count, also to be served concurrently, but after he had completed serving the 28 year’s jail.
The man was charged with committing the offences in the master bedroom of his house in Petaling Jaya between January and July this year.
The charges were made under Section 377C of the Penal Code, Section 14/16 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, Section 31(1)(a) and Section 31(1)(b) of the Child Act 2016, and Section 376A of the Penal Code.
Yong Zarida also ordered him to be given 24 strokes of the cane for offences involving sodomy, physical sexual contact and rape.
She also ordered the man to undergo counselling for 10 years and to be placed under police supervision for three years upon completing his jail time, as well as to pay RM10,000 in compensation to the girl, in default 12 months’ jail.
“The accused is also placed on a good behaviour bond for five years with bail of RM10,000 in one surety and to carry out community service for 240 hours in six months.”
The man looked calm, with his head bowed, when Yong Zarida handed down the sentences. He also acknowledged the facts read out to him by deputy public prosecutor Nordalina Ali.
The man, who has three daughters, is divorced from the children’s mother, but he had full custody of the eldest child.
According to the facts of the case, the victim went to her mother’s house at 5.30pm on July 25 and she was depressed, but the mother, who is the complainant in the case, did not ask her daughter the reason she was in such a state
The girl then told her mother the ex-husband wanted to take her two sisters to stay with him, which shocked the woman as they had agreed on the custody of the children.
The victim was staying with her father since early January this year.
According to reports by the victim, her father came to abuse her for the first time in Makkah when they went to perform the umrah.
She said it happened at 1am on 3 April 2015 when she was sleeping in her hotel room. The man committed unnatural sex on her, who was 13 years-old then, but she was not able to do anything because he mouth was closed.
It happened again after the man was divorced from the wife, from January until July 21 this year, three times a day from 6am to 7am, 1pm to 2pm and 11pm until past midnight.
The girl was sodomised mercilessly for 591 times, and on one occasion on July 21, he raped her.
She did not tell her ordeal to her mother for fear that she would be scolded and accused of lying as the man was her biological father.
But she decided to tell the truth after the man expressed his intention to bring her two sisters to stay with him and feared that the man would also do the same to her sisters.
During the girl’s stay with the father, her movement was closely monitored.
“The accused sent and picked up the victim, who is in Form Three, from school. The girl’s academic performance was weak and she was a loner in school.
“She was referred to University Malaya Medical Centre and the medical report confirmed that there were old tears at her anus and vagina,” said Nordalina.
After the facts of the case was read out in court, media members and the public who were in the court room were asked to leave to allow for a video session of the victim reading out her “Victim Impact Statement” (VIS) and this was followed by mitigation by the accused.
It was learnt that the accused was in tears when the girl read her 20-minutes VIS. Also present in the court was a brother of the accused.
In mitigation, the accused, who was unrepresented, said he was remorseful and admitted that what he did was wrong, but he was not able to control himself and apologised for his doing.
Deputy public prosecutor Aimi Syazwani Sarmin, who also prosecuted in the case, requested for a severe sentence, saying that the offences committed were serious and left a deep trauma on the victim.
The 48-year jail and 24-strokes sentence imposed by the court showed nobody was above the law in this country, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
“The public is very affected by this case as the despicable act was committed regardless of time and place.
“The accused was supposed to protect the victim, but instead he betrayed the trust between a father and child, leaving deep effects of physical injury and trauma,” she said in a statement.
The case made history as being a sexual offence case with the most number of charges against an individual in this country.
Azalina said the special court and the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 were timely and had a big impact on society.
She said 293 cases had been recorded at the Court For Sexual Crimes Against Children since it was set up on June 22 until Aug 31 this year.
She said 36 cases had been resolved while the rest were still at the mention and trial stages.
“I want to thank the Chief Justice and the Chief Registrar’s Office Federal Court of Malaysia for their commitment in ensuring that cases brought to the Court For Sexual Crimes Against Children are resolved in less than one year,” she said, reiterating the government’s commitment to extend the court to the whole country in stages.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said the sentence imposed on the father would hopefully stop others from continuing to commit such despicable acts.
“Hopefully this sentence will be a lesson to all concerned to stop their despicable acts. Once it reaches the courts, we will make sure that they get the appropriate punishment.”
Rohani said children and youths must be equipped with sex education and children’s rights to enable them to recognise and protect themselves from wrongful sexual acts.
She said members of the community must also play their part including lodging reports if they have information on such cases through the Talian Kasih 15999 hotline or directly to the authorities.
“The ministry would continue to work to provide advocacy and awareness initiatives and programmes for parents and children such as the Sahabat B.I.J.A.K ‘Safe and Protect’ campaign
“We at the ministry will always do the best, if we feel we have to amend an act, we will do it in order to give full protection and justice to children.”
– Bernama