High Court upholds conviction, sentence on school van driver charged with rape

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court upheld the 24-year jail sentence and two strokes of the cane meted on a school van driver who was convicted on two counts of raping a slow-learner student.

In upholding the sentence, Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah dismissed an application by Ser Kim Joo, 52, to set aside the conviction and sentence imposed by Sessions Court judge Zulqarnain Hassan.
After studying the appeal record and submissions by both parties, the (High) court ruled that the findings and conviction by the Sessions Court are safe to be upheld, he added.

Azman said the punishment of 12-year jail and one stroke of the cane on each count, to be served concurrently, meted on Ser was not too heavy, and Ser should consider himself lucky that the prosecution had not appealed for the jail sentences to be served concurrently.

He said based on the testimony of a psychologist, the victim was confirmed to be intellectually disabled and based on the provision under Section 375(e) of the Penal Code, the accused had committed an offence because despite the consent given, she was unable to understand the nature and consequences of the act.

On Dec 31 last year, the Sessions Court sentenced Ser to a total of 24 years' jail with two strokes of the cane after he was found guilty on two counts of raping the 16-year-old student.

He was ordered to serve the jail sentences concurrently from the date of his arrest, which was Dec 2, 2014.

The accused, a widowed father of four, was charged with two counts of raping the Form Four student at a flat in Wangsa Maju here at 11am on Nov 22 and 29, 2014.

He was charged under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code which provides for a jail sentence of up to 20 years and caning.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Aznika Mohd Anas, while Ser was represented by lawyer Tan Choon Hong. — Bernama