SANDAKAN: A Timorese man was sentenced to 20 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here yesterday for causing grievous hurt to his own family.
Markus Thomas, 34, pleaded guilty before Judge Egusra Bte Ali to four charges under Section 326 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine or whipping.
He committed the offence at an unnumbered workers’ house at NPC Estate Division 4 (68) off Beluran Road around 10.30pm on 14 October, 2013.
Markus was sentenced to 10 years’ jail for hitting and stabbing the head of his wife Rossi Bacho, 40, with a pair of scissors and a sharp object called sandak (a flat sharp stick with a metal holder)
He was also sentenced to 10 years’ jail each for causing similar grievous hurt to his children Juliana Markus, 7, and Juliadi Markus, 4, with the ‘sandak’.
And for causing similar grievous hurt with the object to his two-year-old daughter, Nurcahaya @ Leny Binti Markus, he was sentenced to 20 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane.
Prior to the attack on the victims, the accused had quarreled with Rossi.
The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently. The case was prosecuted by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fillanny Bin Siji.
Meanwhile, Markus is also accused of murdering his 14-day-old son who was yet to be named during the same incident. The case, under Section 302 of the Penal Code, will be mentioned on April 1.