Sex offender’s appeal rejected

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KOTA KINABALU: A 45-year-old man’s appeal for a reduced sentence has been rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Jaini Mahrop, who was sentenced to a total of nine years after being found guilty of inciting a child to an act of gross indecency, had his appeal dismissedd by Justice Ravinthran Paramaguru.

He was represented by defence counsel Hamid Ismail.

The appeal stated that it was the failure of the learned judge to subject the prosecution evidence to maximum evaluation test at the end of the prosecution case.

It also added that the defence was improperly treated as well as it was the failure of the learned trial judge to consider at the end of the trial whether the prosecution had proved the charge beyond reasonable doubt.

Three of the charges towards the accused have been amended. The first charge was on May 2012 at around 10:20am at a school room in Beaufort where the accused had molested and conducted oral sex with a 12-year-old.

The second and third charges occurred on May 2012, between 7am and 12pm. The accused did the same acts of molesting and performing carnal intercourse against the order of nature on the same victim.

The offence falls under Section 377E of the Penal Code which is punishable by imprisonment not exceeding five years and whipping.

Earlier this year, he was ordered to serve three years for each charge concurrently to a total of nine years in prison from his date of sentencing by the Sessions Court.

Deputy public prosecutor Luke Ressa Balang acted on behalf of the prosecution.

The case was first brought to court on November 27, 2012.