KOTA KINABALU: A 42-year-old man was sentenced to 22 years in jail plus 10 strokes of the cane for raping his 10-year-old daughter.
Sessions Court judge Azreena Aziz imposed the sentence on the man after finding him guilty after a full trial.
She held that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt and therefore found him guilty as charged.
The man had raped the girl behind a hypermarket in Putatan between 5pm and 6pm on January 7, 2018.
He had committed an offence under Section 376(3) of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of between eight and 30 years, and whipping of not less than 10 strokes of the cane, upon conviction.
In mitigation, the man, who was not represented, pleaded for a lenient jail sentence as well as less whipping.
He also asked for parole on the grounds that he has many debts to pay.
However, deputy public prosecutor Nureen Natasha Mohd Raffie urged the court for a deterrent sentence on the accused who showed no remorse.
Azreena emphasized on the relationship between the accused and victim in which the accused should have been the person whom the victim sought for protection.
Nureen also said the accused’s family was badly impacted due to the incident which they had to relocate themselves to Sandakan.
Furthermore, she said the victim was more affected and showed a change of attitude from being a cheerful child before the incident to a quiet one afterwards and this also affects her future.
She also replied that the accused is not the only sole breadwinner.
The court also ordered the accused to be placed under police supervision for two years.
Throughout the proceedings, the prosecution had produced seven witnesses while in defence stage, the accused was the sole defence witness.