KOTA KINABALU: A man who molested two five-year-old girls while driving them to and from kindergarten has been sentenced to a total of 30 years' jail and three strokes of the cane.
The 54-year-old maintained his guilty plea to three charges of physical sexual harassment against the children during the facts and sentencing hearing before Sessions judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan here on Tuesday (March 25).
The court heard that the man, who knew the victims’ parents, had asked the girls to sit on his lap before committing the offence.
The matter came to light when the girls told their parents and a report was lodged.
According to the first charge, he touched a child inappropriately between March and December last year in a car in a village in Tuaran near here.
For this, he was sentenced to 10 years' jail and one stroke of the cane.
For the second offence, he was given the same punishment for committing the same act on the same child in a house in the same village.
On the third count, the court meted out the same sentence for a similar offence against a second child, also in a car in the village, in 2022.
The man was also ordered to undergo counselling during his imprisonment and to be placed under police supervision for two years after his release.
The court ordered the sentences for the first and second charges to run concurrently but consecutively with the third offence, which means the accused will spend a total of 20 years in jail.
Earlier when handing down his verdict, judge Amir Shah said the court had considered the public interest and seriousness of the case as well as the impact on the children affected when coming to a decision.
It is to also serve as a deterrent sentence, he added.
In asking for leniency, the accused who was unrepresented, appealed for his sentences to run concurrently as he had a wife and two ailing children to care for.
DPP Muhammad Yousof Tahir urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence because of the tender age of his victims, and as the accused had betrayed the trust placed in him by the girls' parents.
The maximum penalty for each charge, under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, is 20 years' jail and caning.
