Appellate court upholds man’s 50-year jail term for incest with minor

The Court of Appeal upheld a lower court order for a 45-year-old man to serve two 25-year jail sentences consecutively but reduced the whipping from 10 strokes on each charge to 5.

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has maintained a 50-year jail term imposed on a trader following his conviction on two counts of incest involving his 14-year-old daughter five years ago.

A three-member bench chaired by Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, however, agreed to reduce the punishment of 10 strokes of the rotan imposed on the 45-year-old man for each offence to five.

Vazeer, who sat with Justice Azmi Ariffin and Noorin Badaruddin, said the jail term meted out by the sessions court following a trial was not manifestly excessive.

“This is a case of a biological father who took advantage of his teenage daughter. You raped her instead of caring for and protecting her,” he said.

He committed the first offence on April 8 and the second on April 16, 2019, at a house in Klang, Selangor.

Incest carries a punishment of up to 30 years’ jail and whipping.

On Aug 19, 2022, the sessions court sentenced him to 25 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the rotan for each count, and ordered it to run consecutively, after he was found guilty.

The High Court affirmed both the conviction and sentence last year.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Aida Khairuleen Azli today said the man had raped his daughter 55 times when she was between 11 and 14 years of age but only two charges were proffered.

“He raped the daughter repeatedly and he was not remorseful,” she said.

Aida asked for the sentence to be maintained in the public interest and to serve as a deterrent to would-be offenders.

Meanwhile, in another case, the same bench upheld a sentence of 15 years imprisonment and one stroke of the rotan imposed by a sessions court on a farmer who raped his 14-year-old daughter two years ago.

“She was still your biological child, although born illegitimate,” said Vazeer.

The man, now 51, committed the offence on the victim between 9pm and 10pm on March 24, 2022 at a house in Pasir Mas, Kelantan.

Rape carries a punishment of up to 20 years and whipping.

The man had pleaded guilty to the offence when charged in the Kota Bharu sessions court on April 14, 2022. The High Court last year dismissed his appeal.

Deputy public prosecutor Khairul Aisamuddin Abdul Rahman told the court the offence was committed when the man was under the influence of drugs.

Lawyer Ameerul Aizat Noor Haslan from the National Legal Aid Foundation appeared for both men to mitigate the sentence.