PUTRAJAYA, Aug 21 — The Court of Appeal today reduced a welder’s prison term from 24 years to 16 years for four counts of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter.
A three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah allowed the 57-year-old man’s appeal, varying the sentence from six years to four years on each charge.
The court ordered the sentences to run consecutively from the date of his arrest on March 21, 2022. Justices Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin sat with Justice Azman on the panel.
In delivering the court’s decision, Justice Azman said while the gravity of the offences was not in doubt, the Sessions Court’s original sentence of 24 years would have a “crushing effect.”
He said the bench accepted the defence counsel’s submission that the principle of totality must be applied.
In April 2022, the Sessions Court sentenced the man to 24 years’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to four counts of sexually assaulting his 11-year-old stepdaughter, who is now 15.
The offences were committed at a house in Padang Besar, Perlis, on several occasions — July 2021, early and late December 2021, and March 5, 2022.
Both the accused and the prosecution filed cross-appeals to the High Court challenging the sentence, but the High Court dismissed them in January last year.
At today’s hearing, defence counsel Mohamad Zaidan Daud urged the appellate court to consider his client’s age, contending that a lengthy custodial term would have a “crushing effect.”
He further requested that the sentences run concurrently, which would have resulted in a six-year term.
Zaidan also argued that under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, the maximum penalty is 20 years’ imprisonment, and therefore the 24-year sentence imposed by the Sessions Court exceeded the statutory limit.
Deputy public prosecutor Iznina Hanim Hashim opposed the request, stressing that the offences were distinct acts committed on different occasions and therefore warranted consecutive sentences.
She urged the court to impose a stiffer punishment, describing his acts as repugnant. — Bernama
