Bus driver jailed, caned for raping handicapped girl

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Yasin (middle) being taken out of the Sessions Court after his sentencing yesterday for raping a 15-year-old handicapped girl.

TAWAU: A 34-year-old bus driver was sentenced to 11 years’ jail and three strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here yesterday for raping an underage handicapped girl.

Sessions Court Judge Ummu Kalthom Abd Samad meted out the sentence on Yasin bin Sampi who changed his plea to guilty to a charge under Section 376(1) of the Penal Court which provides twenty years’ imprisonment and whipping

The accused raped the 15-year-old victim on May 4  at about midnight in a hotel room here.

According to the facts of the case, the victim’s father did not realize that the victim had gone out from the house on May 3 at about 6am. The father went out to look for her but did not find her until she came back alone the next day at about 1pm. The victim is a registered handicap.

She told the father that she was brought by the accused to the hotel and was raped. Her father lodged a police report and the accused was detained.

The accused, who was on bail, pleaded for leniency as his wife just delivered their third child.

However, Judge Ummu told the accused that the court had to put public interest first and also considered the rampancy of the crime.

Three witnesses were called before the accused pleaded guilty. She ordered the sentence to run from yesterday.

Deputy public prosecutor Kamalia Yahdi prosecuted.

Meanwhile,  a 36-year-old Indonesian illegal immigrant was sentenced to 12 years’ jail by the Sessions Court yesterday for attempted murder and causing hurt to his four-year-old daughter.

Sessions Court Judge Ummu Kalthom Abd Samad meted out the sentence on Yusup Kamaludin to a charge under Section 307 of the Penal Code which provides for 20 years’ imprisonment.

The accused strangled his daughter and threw her out of the house twice on March 30, at about 8am at a house at Kampung Murut, Kalabakan, causing the victim’s left thigh to break and brain shaken which could cause death if the victim was not immediately taken to the hospital.

The accused was awaken from his sleep by his eight-year-old son to go to work. The accused became angry and hit his children before throwing his daughter out of the house. He was detained on May 1 at about 4.44pm.

Deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Hamzah prosecuted.