Court to study CRT in sexual offender's appeal

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here will study the court recording transcription (CRT) of the proceeding in which a father aged 37 pleaded guilty to 623 sexual offences against his daughter and was sentenced to 48 years in prison and 24 strokes of the cane.
Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah made the decision after hearing the appeal submissions from counsel N. Rajesh and Cyrus Tiu.
"The court sets June 1 to scrutinise the CRT and ascertain issues raised by the defence including miscarriage of justice," he said.
Earlier, Tiu submitted among others that some of the charges overlapped each other and that the accused was not given the option to engage a lawyer during the proceeding.
The judge said although the offences were similar and committed on the same day, there was a break, after which the accused committed another act, which is regarded as a separate offence.
"For instance, you take some rice. After that, you help yourself to more. Then you rest and do something else. That is not one and the same but a separate action," he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Aimi Syazwani Sarmin said the charges were read one by one to the accused on Aug 25, 2017.
On Sept 9, 2017, judge Yong Zarida Sazali handed down the punishment on the unit trust agent and father of three after he pleaded guilty to 591 counts of sodomising his 15-year-old daughter, 30 counts of sexually assaulting her, one charge of raping and one charge of neglecting and abusing her.
The offences were committed at a house in Petaling Jaya between January 2017 and July 2017. — Bernama