Earlier in August 2017, Malaysians were horrified when news of a man charged for raping and sodomising his daughter 623 times surfaced. He had reportedly begun raping his daughter, now 15, after getting divorced in 2015.
The young girl, who went to live with her father after the divorce, had only revealed her trauma to her mother when she found out that he was trying to gain custody of her two younger sisters as well.
The 37-year-old father of three was sentenced to 48 years in jail along with 24 strokes of the cane at the Special Court for Sexual Crimes Against Children in Putrajaya last year. The charges were made under the Penal Code, Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 (SOACA) and the Child Act 2016.
Now, according to Free Malaysia Today, the father of three is seeking to review his sentence, claiming that the 48-year jail sentence is “defective”.
“We were informed that all charges were not read to him again when he pleaded guilty during the second case mention,” the man’s lawyer, Rajesh Nagarajan, was quoted as saying.
“He did not see anyone throughout the time he was in custody and the court did not ask if he wanted a lawyer to fight his case.”
The lawyer also told judge Azman Abdullah in court that the jail sentence based on the 623 charges did not comply with the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).
In response, judge Azman told Rajesh and deputy public prosecutor Aimi Syazwani Sarmin to get the lower court’s recording of when the accused pleaded guilty to all 623 charges and fixed a hearing for 16th May.
Earlier in September 2017, Judge Yong Zarida Sazali sentenced the father of three to 48 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to all 623 charges of raping and sexually abusing his daughter.
He reportedly faced 591 counts of sodomising his teenage daughter between January and 20th July 2017, 30 counts of physical sexual assault without intercourse from 11th to 20th July 2017, one count of neglecting, abusing, and sexually abusing his daughter between 1st January and 21st July 2018, and one charge of incest on 21st July last year, according to The Star.
Well, it looks like we’ll just have to wait and see what the court decides next month!
Also read: M’sian Allegedly Raped & Sodomised Daughter 600 Times, Could Face 3,000 Years in Jail