MELAKA: A bomoh has been sentenced to a total of 50 years in jail and 13 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to four counts of sexually abusing a teenager on the pretext of treating her for possession.
However, the court ordered the prison term for each sentence to be served concurrently, meaning he will spend 15 years behind bars.
Zemi Rahim, 51, entered the plea after the charges were read to him before Sessions judge Rohatul Akmar Abdullah here on Tuesday (Dec 3).
According to the charge sheets, the offences were committed between early and mid-September as well as on Oct 9 last year at a secluded area along Jalan Taman Malim Jaya and an industrial park near a supermarket in Cheng here.
The charges were framed under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, which provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and caning for each offence upon conviction.
The accused had visited the 16-year-old victim’s home to treat her aunt but told the victim’s 48-year-old mother that her daughter also required treatment as she was supposedly possessed by an evil spirit.
He then took the victim to the secluded area, where he sexually assaulted her. The abuse continued on several occasions until the victim reported the incidents.
DPP Nor Asnini Kamarudin requested a stringent sentence, stressing that the victim was a minor and had been traumatised.
Father-of-four Zemi, who was unrepresented, appealed to the court for the jail sentences to run concurrently from the date of his arrest on Oct 16 last year.
