Kota Kinabalu: A 42-year-old man was sentenced to 11 months’ jail by the Magistrate’s Court here for secretly peeping at his teenage niece while she was bathing.
The unemployed man pleaded guilty before Magistrate Wan Farrah Farriza Wan Ghazali to outraging the modesty of the 17-year-old girl by peeping at her while she was bathing in a bathroom of a house here, on Feb 6, at 11.30am, with the intention of insulting the modesty of the victim.
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The charge was framed under Section 509 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to five years, or a fine, or both, on conviction.
The prosecution informed the court that the victim was bathing at the time when the ceiling cover of the bathroom suddenly fell to the floor together with a mobile phone.
When she looked up, she saw the man who is her uncle, on the ceiling and suspected that he had been peeping at her.
Upon realising he had been seen, the man hid himself above the ceiling.
Shocked by the incident, the victim quickly grabbed a towel to cover herself before running out of the bathroom and locking herself inside a room.
In fear, she contacted her father and informed him about what had happened before lodging a police report.
The man was then on Feb 27 arrested by the police following an information received.
Police also seized a mobile phone used during the incident.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Akaash Singh prosecuting, urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, stressing the seriousness of the offence, the fact that the victim was a child and the psychological impact caused to her.
He also submitted that the man had used a mobile phone during the act and that the offence involved public interest.
The court ordered the man to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest.
In another case, a man was fined RM2,600 or nine months jail for having syabu.
Jazid Shah pleaded guilty to committing the offence here on July, last year.
Having syabu framed under Section 12 (2) of the Dangerous Drug Act 1952, provides for a fine of up to RM100,000 or up to five years jail or both on conviction.
