PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal reinstated an eight-month prison sentence on a 52-year-old man, for outraging the modesty of his teenage stepdaughter, overturning the High Court's earlier decision to acquit him.
A three-man bench, led by Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah, on Friday (Aug 15) allowed the prosecution's appeal, setting aside the High Court's acquittal and restoring the conviction and sentence imposed by the Magistrate's Court in November 2023.
Delivering the court's unanimous decision, Justice Azman said that the High Court had erred in acquitting and discharging the man, who works as a security guard.
He said the High Court judge did not assess the victim's testimony thoroughly, and had ignored her spontaneous response following the incident, which included kicking the respondent (the man), calling for her younger brother, her aunt and her mother, and lodging a police report.
"We find that there is overwhelming evidence showing the victim to be a credible witness, and her testimony is consistent with the police report," Justice Azman said, sitting with Justices Datuk Azmi Ariffin and Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz.
He also said that the man's defence that he entered the room to retrieve dirty clothes was unreasonable, as he entered through the bathroom door without knocking on the door, because the victim's room door was locked.
The victim's testimony was not a fabrication intended to incriminate the respondent, he added.
The Magistrates' Court had earlier found the man guilty of using criminal force with the intention of outraging the victim's modesty. The incident occurred at a house in Muallim district, Perak, at about 9am on July 9, 2022, when the victim was 19 years old.
He subsequently appealed to the High Court, which acquitted and discharged him last year. The prosecution then brought the matter to the Court of Appeal.
Deputy public prosecutor Solehah Noratikah Ismail argued that the man's act of entering the victim's locked bedroom via a bathroom connected to the kitchen, while she was asleep, demonstrated malicious intent.
The man's lawyer, Siti Umairah Zainudin, submitted that the High Court had correctly acquitted her client after considering inconsistencies in the victim's testimony. – Bernama
