Labourer to serve 32 years behind bars for raping, sodomising daughter

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 25 — A labourer was ordered by the Court of Appeal to serve 32 years behind bars with 22 strokes of caning for raping and sodomising his underage daughter five years ago.

A three-judge panel comprising judges Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Azmi Ariffin dismissed the 51-year-old man’s appeals today to overturn his conviction and imprisonment term for a rape charge and a sodomy charge.

In a separate ruling, the court allowed the prosecution’s appeal to reinstate the conviction for another rape charge, reversing a High Court decision that had acquitted and discharged the man of that offence.

In dismissing the man’s appeal with regard to the rape and sodomy charges, Justice Ahmad Zaidi said there were concurrent findings made by both the Sessions Court and High Court. He also said the victim was a credible witness and her testimony was supported by medical evidence.

Meanwhile, he said the prosecution’s appeal has merits and the court set aside the High Court’s decision that had acquitted the man of another rape charge.

Justice Ahmad Zaidi also said the imprisonment and whipping sentences meted out by the Sessions Court were not manifestly excessive.

On July 4, 2022, the Sessions Court in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, convicted the man of two charges of raping his daughter, who was then 15 years old, and one charge of sodomising her at a house in Kuala Berang in Hulu Terengganu district, Terengganu.