Sexually assaulting 9-year-old girl gets Bekenu man 10 years’ jail, caning

MIRI (Jan 30): The Sessions Court here has sentenced a 23-year-old man to 10 years behind bars and two strokes of the cane for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

Judge Afidah Abdul Rahman convicted the man on his own guilty plea to a charge under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOAC) 2017 and sentenced under Section 14 of the same Act.

The Section provides for a prison term of up to 20 years and caning.

Based on the facts of the case, the accused physically assaulted the child for sexual purposes at around 3.30am on Jan 23 in Bekenu.

In mitigation, the man requested a lighter sentence on the grounds that this was his first offence.

The court ordered the sentence to take effect from the date of the his arrest on Jan 23.

In addition, the court also ordered that he be placed under police supervision for two years after completing his prison sentence and to undergo rehabilitation and counselling while in prison.

Deputy public prosecutor Luqman Sahrol Bahar appeared for the prosecution while the accused was unrepresented by legal counsel.