KOTA KINABALU: A self-employed local man was freed by the Sessions Court here yesterday from a charge of raping a 24-year-old woman three years ago.
Judge Caroline Bee Majanil acquitted and discharged Ag Abbas Osman @ Suman, 46, after she ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the man.
Ag Abbas was charged under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum jail of 20 years and is also liable to whipping upon conviction.
The accused who was defended by counsel Safrin Saleh Nain, was alleged to have raped the woman at an unnumbered house in a village in Papar between September and December, 2009.
The prosecution had called 17 witnesses to testify against Ag Abbas.
The court also ordered his bail to be refunded.
In a separate case, a civil servant was jailed for 10 months by another Sessions Court here for inserting his finger into his daughter’s vagina six years ago.
The 41-year-old man admitted before High Court deputy registrar Hafizi Abdul Halim, who sat as a Sessions Court judge, to committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature on the victim in the room of an unnumbered house in a village in Papar on October 18, 2007.
The offence was framed under Section 377C of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of up to 20 years and is also liable to whipping upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Chow Siang Kong prosecuted.