Kota Kinabalu: A 43-year-old jobless man was jailed 10 years and ordered to get three strokes of the cane for committing sexual physical harassment against his niece.
The man received the punishment from Sessions Court Judge Hurman Hussain, after the man pleaded guilty to the charge against him on Friday.
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The man had committed the offence against the 17-year and nine-month-old girl by squeezing her breasts for sexual purpose at 12.13pm on March 1 this year at a house in Penampang.
The offence under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOACA) 2017 carries a jail term of up to 20 years, and whipping, on conviction.
For the offence, the man was sentenced to seven years plus two strokes of the cane.
Due to the relationship with the victim, there was additional punishment under Section 16 of SOACA and the man was jailed another three years and ordered to get a stroke of the cane.
The court ordered the man to serve the jail sentences consecutively from the date of his arrest.
The man was also ordered to undergo rehabilitative counselling while serving his sentence.
During mitigation, the man, who was unrepresented, asked for leniency, saying that although he is single, he needed to take care of his elderly mother.
He also asked for the sentence to commence from the date of his arrest.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Fazriel Fardiansyah Abdul Kadir urged the court to impose a heavier sentence, considering the seriousness of the offence, as the victim was the man’s niece, whom he was supposed to protect, and they were living in the same house.
Fazriel also submitted that the trauma suffered by the victim as a result of the incident should be taken into consideration.
The court heard that the incident occurred when the victim was inside a room and her uncle (the accused) knocked on the door and showed her a condom, claiming it belonged to her.
The man then entered the room, locked the door, hugged the victim from behind and asked her to have sex with him while squeezing her breasts.
The victim struggled to free herself from the man and shouted for help, prompting him to release her, after which she asked him to leave the room.
Following a police report lodged by the victim, the man was arrested the following day.
