KOTA KINABALU: A 56-year-old man was jailed for 20 years and received four lashes for two counts of sexual offences against two of his neighbour’s daughters.
Sessions Court judge Elsie Primus imposed the sentence on Tai Yun Kong yesterday after finding him guilty of the charges under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
The indictment provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and liable to whipping, upon conviction.
The judge held that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubts at the end of a full trial.
Tai received 10 years in jail plus two strokes of the cane for each count of touching the bodies of the girls, aged seven and eight, at a house in a residential area in Kolombong, Inanam between 4pm and 5pm on November 19, 2017.
However, Tai will serve the jail sentence for 10 years as the court ordered for the jail sentence to run concurrently, but the imprisonment started from yesterday.
In mitigation, the accused who was represented by counsel Yong Pei Yi, pleaded for leniency on the grounds that he has health issues which needed medical attention every two weeks.
He also applied for a stay of execution, pending an appeal at the High Court here.
However, deputy public prosecutor Rustam Sanip requested a deterrent sentence to be imposed on the accused as the case involved two young girls.
According to the victim’s statement, the girls could still remember the incident and this has become their lifetime nightmare.
The court allowed the stay of execution against the accused, pending his appeal at the High Court.