KOTA KINABALU: A local youth had his 15 years jail sentence reduced to 10 years after the High Court here allowed his appeal yesterday on five convictions of raping and sodomizing a teenage girl.
In allowing the appeal, Justice Ravinthran Paramaguru ordered for his jail terms of five years each imposed by the subordinate court for two rape convictions to run concurrently.
However, the judge did not disturb the appellant’s sentence of six strokes of the cane and also dismissed a cross appeal by the prosecution, who wanted the jail terms to be enhanced.
The lower court had sentenced the appellant to a total of 25 years’ jail after he was found guilty of the five charges for each of which he received five years’ jail term.
For the first and second charges, he was ordered to serve the sentences consecutively while the rest were to run concurrently.
The rape charges under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code is punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than twenty years, and shall also be liable to whipping, upon conviction.
The appellant was found guilty of committing the rape offences at different places in Pitas between January 2012 and May 2012.
He was also found guilty of committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature on the same victim at an unnumbered house in a village in Pitas on May 29, 2012.
The offence under Section 377B of the same Code is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to twenty years, and shall also be liable to whipping, upon conviction.
The lower court had sentenced him to be given two strokes of the cane on the first count of rape while for the other charges he was to receive one whipping each.
Deputy public prosecutor Dominic Chew Ban Huat appeared for the respondent.