KOTA KINABALU: A 23-year-old jobless local man who raped his underage girlfriend and fathered a baby boy, was jailed for 13 years and ordered to be whipped thrice by the Sessions Court here yesterday.
Shahiran Mohd pleaded guilty before High Court deputy registrar Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim, who sat as a Sessions Court judge, to a charge under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code which provides a jail term of up to 20 years and is also liable to whipping upon conviction.
The unrepresented accused admitted to raping his girlfriend, who was then 14 years and 10 months old, at a bush area in Mile 2 1/2, Pertanian Jalan Atas, Kudat about 1pm between August 18 and 28, 2011.
The facts of the case stated that the mother of the girl lodged a police report on May 1, this year after the victim gave birth to a baby boy at the Kudat hospital.
The girl, when asked, later revealed to her mother that she was raped by a man by the name of Shahiran Mohd in the middle of July, 2011 at a bush area in Taman Kudat.
Further investigation revealed that the accused and the victim were lovers. The victim received a short message system (SMS) from the accused who wanted to meet her at the park.
After her additional class had finished, the victim boarded a rented car together with the accused and the latter’s sibling.
When they reached the park, the accused’s sibling went home while the accused and the victim went to the park before having sex at a bush area.
After the incident, the victim and the accused had sex every time they met as she was very sure that he would take the responsibility.
Further investigation revealed that they had sex four times between August 18 and 28 which resulted in the birth of the baby boy.
Earlier in mitigation, Shahiran applied for a lenient sentence and said that he regretted what he had done.
In his rebuttal, deputy public prosecutor Chow Siang Kong urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence due to the seriousness of the offence and the case also involved a minor.
Chow pointed out that during the incident, victim was studying at the secondary school.
Although there was no force, Chow said the court should take into consideration the mental state of the victim who was still not matured at that time and did not understand the consequences of having sexual intercourse which caused her to give birth to her child.
He also urged the court to take into consideration the public interest and rampancy of such case.