KUANTAN: A female farm worker was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service after she pleaded guilty to abusing her stepdaughter using a heated knife, last Sunday.
Sessions Court judge Siti Aminah Ghazali also ordered the 24-year-old accused to be imposed a three-year good behaviour bond on completion of the sentence, and to report to the police station every month during the period.
The accused was charged with abusing the nine-year-old victim who is under her care at about 3pm on Sept 20, at an estate housing in Muadzam Shah, Rompin some 90 km from here.
The offence framed under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, provides for imprisonment of up to 20 years or a maximum fine of RM50,000 or both, upon conviction.
The accused was arrested on Sept 22, after the victim complained to her school teacher about her injuries, a day after the incident.
In mitigation the accused through her lawyer Mohd Faizal Hiqram Azmi, said she had repented and pleaded for leniency as her monthly income was about RM600.
However, deputy public prosecutor Sharifah Nurul Syuhada Tuan Mamat urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence as a lesson to the accused.
On Sept 22, Bernama reported that a woman was arrested on suspicion of abusing her stepdaughter leaving the child scalded on the right arm, after the victim was said to have hit her little sister while their parents were out. — Bernama
