Father convicted of sexually assaulting daughter files appeal

KUALA LUMPUR: A father who was convicted and sentenced to 48 years in jail with 24 strokes of the rotan for committing 623 sexual crimes on his 15-year-old daughter has filed an appeal to reduce the sentence.
The appeal by the 37-year-old man who previously worked as a unit trust agent will be heard on April 23 at the Criminal High Court here.
Senior Assistant Registrar Nur Ain Mustapa set the date during the mention of the case that was attended by the convicted man who was the appellant while the prosecution was represented by Deputy Public Prosecutor Aimi Syazwani Sarmin.
Aimi Syazwani told reporters the court ordered the appellant to appoint a counsel to represent him and asked him to seek the assistance of the prison's management to appoint a counsel from the National Legal Aid Foundation.
"The court told the appellant that if he failed to appoint a counsel on the date of the appeal hearing, he would have to represent his own case," said Aimi Syazwani, adding that the man has filed his appeal in October last year, a month after being sentenced.
Clad in red prison attire, the man who looked visibly thinner, entered the courtroom at 9.30am. The case has attracted a lot of attention as this was the first time an accused faces multifarious charges.
On Sept 8 last year, the Criminal Court On Sexual Crime Against Children in Putrajaya sentenced the man to jail after he pleaded guilty to 591 charges of sodomising, 30 charges of inappropriate touching, one charge of raping and another charge of sexually assaulting the victim, who is also his eldest daughter.
Judge Yong Zarida Sazali sentenced the father of three to 28 years in jail for raping and another 20 years jail for sexual assaults.
He was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for 30 counts of inappropriate touching and the three jail sentences to run concurrently from the date of arrest on July 26. Hence for these three penalties, the man would be serving 28 years in jail.
Yong Zarida also sentenced the man to 24 strokes of the rotan for sodomising, sexual assault and rape.
The court also ordered the man to undergo a 10-year of rehabilitation counselling and be under police surveillance for three years after completing his jail sentences and ordered to pay the victim a RM10,000 compensation and in default of 12 months' jail if he failed to settle the fine.
He was also ordered to complete a good behaviour bond of RM10,000 with one surety for a period of five years and do community service for 240 hours within six months.
According to the facts of the case, on July 25, the girl told her mother about the sexual assaults after her father expressed intention to take her two younger sisters under his care as she did not want her siblings to go through a similar experience.
The eldest child lived with the father while her sisters are with their mother following their parents' divorce. — Bernama