PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal on Wednesday (March 12) reduced the jail sentence of a former debt collector from 13 years to 10 years for sexually assaulting his 11-year-old son in 2019.
A three-judge panel comprising Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Azmi Ariffin made the decision after allowing the 53-year-old man's appeal.
However, the court ordered the man to undergo three strokes of the cane.
In May 2023, the Sessions Court sentenced the man to 10 years in jail and two strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his son in a house in the Kuala Selangor district, Selangor, at 2pm in June 2019.
He was also sentenced to an additional three years in jail and three strokes of the cane under Section 16 (1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, with the sentences to run consecutively.
The man’s appeal against the sentences was dismissed by the High Court in January last year.
In Wednesday’s proceedings, the man’s lawyer, K.A. Ramu argued that his client was remorseful and claimed the incident happened only for five seconds, but deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari countered by saying the incident had caused significant trauma to the child.
Meanwhile, the same panel also reduced the prison sentence of a former Muay Thai instructor Ahmad Tarmiza Othman from 18 years imprisonent to 14 years for two counts of raping a 13-year-old teenager at two different places in Petaling Jaya, Selangor in January and August 2020.
The court, however, upheld the imposition of four strokes of the cane on the man.
Judge Che Mohd Ruzima said the nine-year jail sentence for each charge handed down by the Sessions Court was excessive and, hence, reduced it to seven years each, which to be served consecutively.
Ahmad Tarmiza, 35, who was sentenced to nine years and two strokes for each charge, filed an appeal to the High Court, but the court dismissed his appeal on July 23, last year.
Lawyers Muhammad Danish Manoharan and Muhammad Aiman Fauzi represented the man, while deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Arif Aizuddin Masrom appeared for the prosecution. - Bernama
