Kota Kinabalu: A Timorese man who raped a local underaged student after befriending her on TikTok just two months earlier was jailed 10 years and given two strokes of the cane.
Sessions Court Judge Monica Linsua handed down the sentence to Rafinus Bata Tukang who pleaded guilty to the charge, Thursday.
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Rafinus raped the 15-year and nine-months-old student at 7pm on Dec 7, 2025 at a rented room in Inanam, here.
The offence, under Section 376(2)(d) of the Penal Code, carries a jail term of between 10 and 30 years, and whipping on conviction.
The court ordered Rafinus to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest and referred to the Immigration Department after serving the jail sentence.
During mitigation, Rafinus who was not represented asked for leniency saying that he is the eldest in his family and his mother had passed away, while his father is sick.
Hence, he was the one responsible for his siblings.
He told the court he was remorseful and it was his first offence.
Rafinus claimed the victim was with her only one day and asked her to go back to her house but the victim refused to do so.
He also claimed the victim told him she was 18.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Shaferrah Mad Iskim urged the court to impose a heavy sentence considering rape is a serious offence and very rampant.
Nurul further submitted that the court should also consider the victim was below maturity age at the time of incident.
She further said even though the sex was consensual, the law is clear that having sex with underaged is an offence.
The court heard that the complainant had lodged a police report to withdraw an earlier report concerning her missing daughter.
Further investigations revealed that the girl had left home and followed Rafinus on a motorcycle.
She later informed her mother that she had sexual intercourse with her boyfriend, known as Boboy (Rafinus), at a rented room.
