PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has upheld a 15-year prison term and three strokes of the cane sentence imposed on a former police officer for committing incest with his sister-in-law.
A three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah, sitting with Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin, dismissed the 32-year-old appellant's challenge to his conviction and sentence on Friday (Aug 22).
Delivering the court's unanimous judgment, Justice Azman held that the Sessions Court had committed no error of law or fact.
"It must be noted that SP1 (prosecution witness), the victim, was a young woman living in the home of the appellant and her sister, where the appellant was her brother-in-law," he said.
He added that the sentence imposed by the Sessions Court, and later upheld by the High Court, was not manifestly excessive, given that the appellant's actions had irrevocably ruined the future of his sister-in-law.
"Furthermore, at the time of the incident, the appellant was serving with the police," Justice Azman said.
On Aug 28, 2023, the Sessions Court convicted the appellant and sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment and three strokes of the cane.
The High Court dismissed his appeal on Nov 26, 2024, leading him to file a further appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The offence took place at an apartment in Selangor on March 23, 2020. The victim, then 19, was a college student who had been ordered to vacate her dormitory during the Covid-19 Movement Control Order.
Unable to return to her hometown, she was taken in by her elder sister who lived with the appellant, her newly married husband.
The appellant was charged under Section 376A of the Penal Code, punishable under Section 376B(1), which prescribes up to 30 years' imprisonment and caning. – Bernama
