The accused walks out of the court room after sentencing.
KUCHING: The Sessions Court here yesterday sentenced a teenager to 12 years in prison and three strokes of the rotan for committing gross indecency on a seven-year-old girl.
The 18-year-old pleaded guilty to the charge framed against him under Section 377 of the Penal Code before Judge Afidah Abdul Rahman.
He admitted committing the offence around 10.30pm on Sept 22 in Stutong.
In presenting the facts of the case, DPP Poh Yih Tinn said the accused had asked the child, who is his neighbour, for directions to a shop nearby.
He then asked the girl to go with him on a motorcycle and proceeded to bring her to the back of the shop to commit the act.
It is understood that the frightened and shocked child kept quiet throughout the ordeal.
The accused only stopped when he received a call from his girlfriend and proceeded to bring the girl home.
She only disclosed the incident to her mother when they went to the scene.
This led her parents to take her for a check-up at a hospital and her father proceeded to lodge a police report.
In mitigation, the accused, who is a labourer, pleaded for leniency, while Poh urged the court to impose a hefty sentence given the nature of the offence.
“The facts of the case show that anything less would not be a fair punishment. The accused betrayed the victim’s mother’s trust on him and also took advantage of the victim’s young age.
“The case will attract widespread public interest, demanding for a heavy sentence to be imposed to curb violence and sexual abuse against children,” he said, adding that the incident had possibly shaken and affected the victim emotionally.
“The victim had a profound change of behaviour after the incident and I can say that this ordeal would traumatise her for the rest of her life,” he added.
The accused was not represented by defence counsel.