KOTA KINABALU: Four men were sentenced to 13 years’ jail by the Sessions Court here yesterday for separate statutory rape charges.
Judge Azreena Aziz imposed the sentence on Sharul Amizan Kimlin, Zulfazly Abd Rahman, Hasnan Barudin and Sahbeneh Kesrah, after finding them guilty of raping a girl aged 15 years and 11 months.
The charges under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code carry a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.
In her reserved decision, the trial judge held that the four accused had failed to cast reasonable doubts on the prosecution’s case.
The court also ordered the accused to be placed under police supervision for two years after serving their jail terms.
The charges stated that Sharul, Zulfazly and Sahbeneh raped the victim at an unnumbered house in Penampang on May 14, 2016 while Hasnan raped the same victim at the same place on May 15, 2016.
The prosecution had called 13 witnesses to testify against the accused persons who were defended by counsel Azhier Farhan Arisin and the defence had produced six witnesses, including the accused persons.
In a separate case, a restaurant operator was fined a total of RM30,000 by the same court for hiring three illegal immigrants.
Ziad Abdullah Ismail, 34, pleaded guilty to employing the immigrants at a restaurant here on May 20, 2017.
The unrepresented accused was convicted under Section 55B of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
The court ordered the accused to pay RM10, 000, in default, four months’ jail for each of the immigrant and the court also allowed three instalment payments to be made yesterday, on March 24 and on April 26.